"By 1974 I had already filled up the house with my neon sculpture, so I next moved to the garage in order to build Scar. It was an old garage that leaked, and I could only stand back about five feet from the metal case to which the neon tubes were attached. But I was determined to build it as large as possible under the circumstances.
      I wanted Scar to express the feeling of the Dylan Thomas poem, "Do not go gentle into that good night, Rage, rage against the dying of the light." The central image was chosen from an embroidered army patch. Having been raised in the military, I was familiar with the symbols of all the armies, divisions, battalions, etc. This one was my favorite. I also spent a lot of time looking at tattoos, particularly at "The Pike" in Long Beach. The blood drops were borrowed from Edvard Munch.
      When I finished Scar and lit it up for the first time in that scroungy garage, it was magical. It was voodoo, hocus pocus, heebie jeebie and helter skelter. And it raged, raged against the dying of the light."