Yo! Peace will be releasing a new hand-pulled serigraph by Doze Green, featuring his classic character style on June 11 2010.

"Taino" is a signed and numbered edition of 100. White ink on Arches Black paper (250gsm). 11 x 30 inches (28 x 76 cm).

Onsale at yodepot.com at 1pm (PST) on Friday, June 11.

Technorati Tags: Doze Green, Art, Poster, Print, Serigraph, Urban, Graffiti, Taino, Native

The final print in Self Help Graphics' Political Print series is by acclaimed Los Angeles-based artist Mear One. The six-color print entitled "Are You Ready to Die for YOUR Country?" is a piece in "resistance to subjecting our youth to unnecessary violence and war." Mear's distinct psychedelic styling of the gun-toting boy soldier makes a thought-provoking visual. He adds "As you know I like to push the comfort zone so I hope you find conversation and critical thinking essential in interpreting the world around you."Check outmore of Mear's work here.

"Are You Ready to Die for YOUR Country?"

First color.

Four colors and boots.

Final print.

Technorati Tags: Antiwar, Politics, Peace, Politics, Political, Street Art, Streetart, War

Los Angeles-based artist Karen "Fury" Fiorito released "Hope," a six color print based on a photograph that speaks volumes about homlessness. With her belief that printmaking itself is a political act, "Hope" artfully questions society's perception of homelessness. From her artist statement:

"Hope" depicts a homeless shelter underneath a sign for the Hope Sportswear Corporation, a corporation which has gone extinct. Underneath are the facts: 'Approximately 3.5 million people, 1.3 million of them children are likely to experience homelessness is a given year.' Hope has become the new catch phrase, but for whom do we speak? Many people think that homeless people are mentally ill or have drug problems, but this is not the case. They are people like you and me, only one mistake or circumstance away from being out on the streets. Many of them are victims of domestic violence, children, or war veterans. Regardless, all people, all sentient being, deserve love and respect. All beings deserve hope."

The first color of "Hope."

Second color.

Peggy helps.

Joe prints "Hope."

Final print of Karen Fiorito's "Hope."

Peggy.

The next post will be on Mear One.

Technorati Tags: Art, Politics, Political, Screen Printing, Street Art, Streetart

The latest in Self Help Graphics political print series is from Detroit-based artist Overton Loyd. Best known for creating the cover for Parliament's 1978 album "Motor Booty Affair," Loyd's contribution to the Self Help series depicts a caricature of Barack Obama in crosshairs with a quote from Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn in the background:

"Oh, yes, this is a wonderful govment, wonderful. Why, looky here. There was a free nigger there from Ohio--a mulatter, most as white as a white man. He had the whitest shirt on you ever see, too, and the shiniest hat; and there ain't a man in that town that's got as fine clothes as what he had; and he had a gold watch and chain, and a silver-headed cane--the awfulest old gray-headed nabob in the State. And what do you think? They said he was a p'fessor in a college, and could talk all kinds of languages, and knowed everything. And that ain't the wust. They said he could VOTE when he was at home. Well, that let me out. Thinks I, what is the country a-coming to? It was 'lection day, and I was just about to go and vote myself if I warn't too drunk to get there; but when they told me there was a State in this country where they'd let that nigger vote, I drawed out. I says I'll never vote agin. Them's the very words I said; they all heard me; and the country may rot for all me --I'll never vote agin as long as I live. And to see the cool way of that nigger--why, he wouldn't a give me the road if I hadn't shoved him out o' the way. I says to the people, why ain't this nigger put up at auction and sold?--that's what I want to know. And what do you reckon they said? Why, they said he couldn't be sold till he'd been in the State six months, and he hadn't been there that long yet. There, now--that's a specimen. They call that a govment that can't sell a free nigger till he's been in the State six months. Here's a govment that calls itself a govment, and lets on to be a govment, and thinks it is a govment, and yet's got to set stock-still for six whole months before it can take a hold of a prowling, thieving, infernal, white-shirted free nigger, and--"

Joe and Overton specify colors.

Color separation.

Digital closeup.

Joe and Josue.

Final print on the rack.

Overton signs the prints.

The next featured artist will be Karen "Fury" Fiorito.

Technorati Tags: Politics,Political, Printmaking

The We the People Festival that was scheduled for this Saturday, November 21, has been postponed until early 2010. Check back to see where Yo! and Vyal's Piramide de la Paz and Mear One's first 3D sculpture will debut.

Printed II is an exhibit of hand-printed art posters by street artists, activists and designers who want to communicate political and social messages to everyday people. The genre-centered show is curated by Two Rabbits features prints by Hit+Run, Branded, Ashira Seigel, Contra One, Max Neutra, Shark Toof, Vyal, Werc and many more. The opening reception on Saturday, December 5th features live printing by Two Rabbits and featured artist Ron Donovan from Firehouse and the Nor-Cal Posse. The show runs through December 30th.

Technorati Tags: Activist, Art, Culture, Exhibition, Graffiti, Poster, Printmaking, Screen Printing, Street Art, Streetart,

Yo! Peace and Spectrumega Media are co-presenting the second annual Art is a Hammer exhibit which will take place at the 2009 We the People Festival in Los Angeles. The  festival is billed as a "platform. . . to inspire the involvement and active participation of the conscious urban youth populous throughout the country." Some Art is a Hammer highlights include a mural collaboration between Yo! Peace and Vyal called Piramide de la Paz Installation: Tehuan Tlamatcanemitzl, 10 posters from the Yo! and Self Help Graphics political postrs series (see blog posting further down te site), and the debut of Mear One's first 3D sculpture. Some of the many featured artists include Man One, Spectr, Contra, punk art legends Winston Smith and Edward Colver, the Hit+Run Crew, Overton Loyd, Sharktoof, Karen "Fury" Fiorito, 2 Cents and more.

Last year's Art is a Hammer brought wheatpasting and fine art together with an exhibit of prints, live painting, collaborative wheatpasting and graff and this year's lineup will build an expand on that. 

Art is a Hammer at We the People 2008.

Mural at Art is a Hammer installation.

Wheatpaste posters.

In addition to the art show, We the People  holds an outdoor concert and speaker series. This year features performances by Suicidal Tendencies, Bad Religion, Pepper, the Glitch Mob and talks by activist criminal defense lawyer Christopher Darden and Hip Hop Summit Action Nework's Dr. Benjamin Chavis. You can see the full line-up of bands, speakers and artist here. 

Technorati Tags: Activism, Activist, Art, Exhibition, Graffiti, Music, Painting, Political, Street Art, Streetart, Urban,

Eileen Yaghoobian's Died Young, Stayed Pretty delves into America's poster scene to discover "the renaissance of poster art in the wake of punk and the rebirth of a defiant counterculture." Featuring artists like Art Chantry, Brian Chippendale, the Ames Brothers, Print Mafia, and Rob Jones, Yaghoobian's debut doc puts an interestng spin on graphic arts.

The synopsis reads

"Died Young, Stayed Pretty is a candid look at the underground poster culture in North America. This unique documentary examines the creative spirit that drives these indie graphic artists. They pick through the dregs of America’s schizophrenic culture and piece them back together. What you end up with is a caricature of the black and bloated heart that pulses greed through the US economy. The artists push further into the pulp to grab the attention of passersby, plastering art that’s both vulgar and intensely visceral onto the gnarled surfaces of the urban landscape. The film gives us intimate look at some of the giants of this modern subculture. Outside of their own circle, they’re virtually unknown. But within their ranks they make up an army of bareknuckle brawlers, publicly arguing the aesthetic merits of octopus imagery and hairy 70s porn stars. They’ve created their own visual language for describing the spotty underbelly of western civilization and they're not shy about throwing it in the face of polite society. Along the way, they manage to create posters that are strikingly obscene, unflinchingly blasphemous and often quite beautiful. Yaghoobian shows these artists for what they are: the vivisectionists of America’s morbidly obese consumer culture."

Technorati Tags: Art, Culture, Poster, documentary,

East Bay artist Melanie Cervantes’ portrait of Rigoberta Menchu Tum is the seventh print in Self Help Graphics’ political print series. The six color print speaks to Melanie’s “lifelong commitment to be an artist of the people,” a role she fulfills as a member of the political art collective Taller Tupac Amaru and Dignidad Rebelde. The subject of the portrait, an indigenous rights activist from Guatemala, represents the urgency of grassroots movements for social justice. From Melanie’s  artist’s statement:

"I created a portrait of Rigoberta Menchú Tum, a Quiche-Maya from Guatemala, in order to lift up a woman who has helped call attention to the genocidal policies being carried out against indigenous people . I feel like it is important to know to be able to understand Rigoberta's story. She helped her family with farm work as a young person and attended school where she received up to an eighth grade education. She was also a major proponent of women's rights when she was only a teenager. She has been recognized for her activist organizing against violations of human rights committed by the Guatemalan army. In 1991, Menchú participated in the ongoing preparation by the United Nations of its Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which was most recently ratified. Menchu was the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate in recognition of her social justice and ethno-cultural reconciliation work based on respect for the rights of indigenous people."

Melanie's print in progress.

A burned screen.

The original digital printout.

Josue registers the color.

Color separations.

Melanie signing prints.

Melanie applying the SHG "chop mark"

Final print.

You can see more of Melanie's work on Just Seeds and at "Altars for the Sprits Offerings for the Living" the SOMArts gallery in San Francisco through November 7. 

Technorati Tags: Activism, Activist, Culture, Politics, Political, Printmaking, indigenous,

The latest in Self Help Graphics’ political print series is from activist printmaker and digital artist Jesus Barraza. Jesus is a co-founder and member of Taller Tupac Amaru, a print studio in Oakland, California that produces and distributes screen-printed political posters and fosters “resurgence in the screen-printing medium for social change.” He also works with fellow Taller Tupac Amaru artist Melanie Cervatnes on a project called Dignidad Rebelde, “a space for collaboration and artistc skill-sharing that is grounded in a Xicana worldview and fueled by their collective desire to support grassroots organizing for social justice.” Jesus brings the Xicana flare to Self Help’s political print series with “Las Flores,” a vibrant five-color portrait that reflects his mission for social justice. From his artist’s statement:
This piece is dedicated to all the people of Iran who have been protesting in the streets struggling for the self determination to decide the future of their own government and country. It is also important to put this struggle within a contemporary context where people in the global south are struggling to build a better world, one in which decisions are no longer made with only those who control capital in mind.

Final print.

Final prints on rack.

Josue and Joe in progress.

Joe rockin' it.

Josue and Joe.

Joe and his paparazzi.

Jesus mixing colors.

Jesus mixes colors.

Josue checking a screen.

Self Help's ink cabinet.

Color swatches.

Jesus with the SHG guys.

Joe.

Josue and Joe.

Next post will be about fellow Taller Tupac Amaru artist Melanie Cervantes.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Activist, Art, Politics, Political, Printmaking, Screen Printing