Multimedia Printmedia Show!

Slightly further afield than Threewalls, perhaps, but I highly recommend making the trip to Hyde Park to see screenprinting (not to mention a rich array of other printmedia) taken to new heights at the Hyde Park Arts Center:

East coast style meets Midwest sensibility in Broad Shoulders and Brotherly Love, a group exhibition of print-based works sampling the archives of two of the most highly respected national non-profit organizations dedicated to innovative techniques and concepts in print media. Both Anchor Graphics (Chicago) and Philagrafika (Philadelphia) selected an outstanding variety of work from the other’s residency program or invitational portfolio collection. This exhibition is held in conjunction with Global Implications, the 2009 Southern Graphics Council Conference happening March 25-29, 2009 at Columbia College Chicago.

Digital, silkscreen, and woodcut prints, lithographs, engravings, linocut collages, printed paper constructions, and smoked paper prints presented in this show demonstrate the experimental trends in printmaking today.

Clothing Project

Screen-printing these took a really long time to get each print looking good 4 times on the pants and twice on the shirts! I have so many extra reject cat clothes. I was a little nervous for this project, not because I was embarrassed but because I was 60% positive I was about to get arrested at, or banned permanently from at least 3 locations within a mile radius of my home. Luckily, we left all of our I.D's in the car, and we are all very fast runners if a situation came when the Harper Police or security would have attempted to catch us. We were not caught, but we made no friends that day, except for one guy who agreed to be in the movie. He was nice, but very confused. I think I am very pleased with the documentation and project.

"You thought we wouldn't notice" is a blog that anyone can post to. The site is dedicated to pointing out imagines/website/artwork/designs, etc. that give you the feeling of "haven't I seen that somewhere before?"

Public Zines, Political Tees, and Activist Artist's Books at ThreeWalls!

Hi all,
Be sure to visit ThreeWalls in the nearby gallery district at Peoria and Randolph to see three interrelated shows that are completely relevant to the themes we've been exploring this semester.


Here's their press release info:

Holle Cambodia is the first in-depth exhibition of the innovative self-publishing effort undertaken by Anne Elizabeth Moore in Phnom Penh. Featuring the group’s zines on topics as diverse as agriculture, women’s issues, spirituality, education, health care, and the country’s unique and disturbing genocidal history, the show will also house the international debut of the collaborative book New Girl Law, a rewrite of a traditional Khmer text that prescribes proper girl behavior. New Girl Law is a hand-bound, letter-pressed demand for human rights and a captivating vision of Cambodia. (Find out more at http://camblogdia.blogspot.com.)

Grass roots campaigning was the buzz word for the Obama election in a cultural climate where DIY, craft and micro-industry are once again popular as a labor-movement. Dispatch, in the back gallery, is an exhibition of DIY political T-shirts submitted by citizens around the country, made by both professional and non-professional artists and designers. The latest election inspired an unprecedented number of DIY political T-shirts, worn, given away and sold. Dispatch draws attention to how artwork and micro-industry became an important form of participation in a millennial political process where capitalist style branding and grass-roots were not-so-strange bedfellows.

The Tract House is a 'spread the word' project by artist Lisa Anne Auerbach in collaboration with graphic design by Roman Jester. While most popular tracts are religious, The Tract House are nearly everything else: manifestos, diatribes, stories, rants, poems and lyrics, personal, professional, political, domestic, local and global. Visitors to threewalls are encouraged to peruse the many tracts and take home what they wish as well as visiting The Tract House website to print the tracts on their home printers. The tracts can be treasured or passed on, crumpled in disgust or venerated, folded up and put through the laundry, or left on a car windshield.

Check out these shows and let us know what you think. The opening reception is from 6-9pm this Friday, February 20th and will remain on view through March 27.

Art when U least expect it...

This work is from a photographer that goes by JR. He spent last year photographing victimized women in Africa. He then made massive poster size prints which he plastered illegally in places you would least expect(like buildings,bridges, and beyond!) The idea says JR is to celebrate the strength and courage of women who live in places where they are often targets in wartime,and discriminated against in times of peace.When I saw his work I was simply amazed by the size and the meaning behind of what he does. His work is definitely relevant to the class, so enjoy, get inspired, and look up more of his work! (www.jr-art.net)

Fairey Trouble

Since we're a.) creating work for public spaces and b.) occasionally borrowing images from popular culture as part of our work for the class, I thought this news item might be of interest:

Shepard Fairey, the street artist now famous for his Obama graphics (and previously for his OBEY stencil / sticker campaign) has been caught up in a lot of trouble recently: first for copyright infringement - the image he used to create his presidential posters was directly lifted from the work of a photographer for the Associated Press. Then he was arrested for tagging on his way to his solo exhibition at Boston's Institute of Contemporary Art this week. Read all about it HERE.

Shepard's case raises some important questions: as the internet makes images more accessible and borrowable than ever, where should we draw the line between appropriation and theft of another person's artwork? What's the difference between "street art" and vandalism of private property? Post your comments below.

BLU

Has anybody seen THIS before? Because I haven't and when I did it blew my mind. It's not screen-printing but it's site-specific. I thought since it was made in a public space it would be relevant to the class.

Yups! Light switch printing!

I stumbled this. Its a step by step process of how to print on a light switch cover. At first I thought it was boring because the design on it is kinda blah, but then I got to thinking i could pring a face on there and have the switch be his nose. Cool right? Dont steal it.

Eating your art

I have no idea what is going on but it seems this is French and they're printing images on food.

Anab & Chienpo - serigraphie sur crêpes
by elshopo1

Here is a text-only article on printing with, or onto, chocolate.

Here is a walkthrough with pictures on how to screenprint, stencil, and laser engrave your pancakes.

-Matt