In the 1980s, Pellino writes, "artists and designers were exploring kitsch as a way to infuse humor into their work as well as to force a kind of freshness into design," which they felt tended toward the polite and staid. Pellino followed suit in this first year project, using a Roman Catholic icon in a transgressive fashion as the façade of a tacky souvenir store on Sixth Avenue. Pellino's project was poorly received by his instructor, who Pellino believed "was not ready to give up on good taste just then."