Robert was fascinated by New York city, a place he recognized as capital of the international art world. New York reflected much of the promise and excess of America. On Robert’s first trip there, with classmates from NSCAD, he spent a day at Coney Island. Robert conceived of a roller coaster as a symbol of the city itself, a place of incessant entertainment and salesmanship, with its oscillating highs and lows, surrounded by flying billboard ads. Robert pastes a man’s fedora from a magazine ad onto his sketchbook page. His text makes playful reference to himself acting out the role of a Marlborough man.