Art

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

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,

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,

 Hmmmm...

Stencil of Rush Limbaugh in downtown LA by artist John Carr.
Technorati Tags: Art, Rush Limbaugh, Stencil, Art

Punk rock montage artist and icon Winston Smith is having a major retrospective art show in LA at Copro Nason Gallery at the Bergamot Station art complex. Opens Saturday October 3rd from 8 PM to 11:30 PM. Winston will be in attendance.

Winston Smith's art has majorly influenced a generation of artists and designers. He is regarded by many observers as the most significant Western socio-political montage artist since Germany's John Heartfield. You can read more about him on Wikipedia or check out his 3 published collections: Act Like Nothing's Wrong, Artcrime and All Riot on the Western Front.

In related news, our friends at Buddha Cat Press and Paperworks Laboratories have teamed up to produce a jaw-dropping limited edition serigraph of the famous "Idol" image which graced the Dead Kennedys 2nd album or In God We Trust, Inc. The print will be available at the show and on the Paperworks Laboratories site (while supplies last of course).

Technorati Tags: Art, Political, Poster, Art, Culture, Exhibition, Printmaking, Collage, Montage, Winston Smith

On Thursday September 24, Bay Area Rapid Transit workers removed the mural tribute to Gary King Jr., an unarmed 20-year old man brutally killed by a police officer in 2007. From Bay Area graffiti culture blog Endless Canvas:

"The mural was painted at the end of 2007, after police officer Patrick Gonzales beat, tazered, and shot 20 year old, unarmed and innocent, Gary King Jr in the back. Gary passed away in hand cuffs next to this pillar, while his young cousin had to watch, unable to put pressure on the wounds because officer Gonzales put a gun to his head and said that he would kill him if he touched Gary.

Gary ran a construction company with his father and was a productive member of the community. His life was stolen before he got to see the birth of his baby girl.

If the more recent murder of Oscar Grant wasn’t enough, the act of buffing Gary’s memorial is a symbol of BART’s complete disrespect of the community and human life.

We will never forget Gary or any of the lives stolen by Police.

We cropped off his face to make it more ominous, because this worker is a pawn at the bottom of the politics around BART disrespecting human life."

Locals are demanding that BART pay to restore the mural and state in writing that it will never be removed again. Check out the high resolution flier and BART contact info to get active with along Oakland locals.

Technorati Tags: Activism, Art, Graffiti, Street Art, Streetart, police+brutality, Oakland,