Four projects reflecting on our times
Pandemonium 2020
Tipping Point
Monsters & Heroes
Art Hazelwood archive at UCSC
The times have been tough. The stakes are high. Lots of us have difficulty knowing where to put our energy, or whether we have energy to put anywhere. Over this period I’ve tried to busy myself with satire and politics. Below are four projects recently completed.
Pandemonium 2020
See the portfolio here http://arthazelwood.com/artist/books-folios/pandemonium/pandemonium.html
Using an array of satirical magazine mastheads I created a running commentary on the state of our pandemic pandemonium.
The covers were designed somewhat in the spirit of the historical period. They were sent by email on the date of each publication. The use of historical magazines was done in part to give perspective on the “great times” we are living through, in part to enjoy the way satirical art history plays an ongoing role after its ostensible subject has withered away.
portfolio edition of 15, 19 x 12 1/4”, twenty-three screenprints plus the portfolio cover printed inside and out.
Tipping Point
Twenty nine color screenprint images romp through moneybag-headed capitalist, the one-eyed pyramid dollar, and other images of the destructive powers arrayed against the people and the planet at this critical moment. But an alternative power is also at play. It’s a power that can challenge the fascists, and corporatists to overthrow these forces and create a world that embraces all life. The finale of the book is a moveable guillotine – leading to hours of fun decapitating capital.
See the book here http://arthazelwood.com/artist/books-folios/tipping-point/tipping-point.html
Tipping Point, Conceived, drawn, & screenprinted by Art Hazelwood. Book binding & design by Asa Nakata.
12” x 9″ x 1 3/8″, 44 pages, 2021, edition of 25, slipcase, hardcover with moving guillotine
Monsters & Heroes – Political Graphics from the San Francisco Poster Syndicate
San Francisco Public Library, Main Branch 6th Floor
October 30, 2021 – April 17, 2022, curated by Art Hazelwood
You may have seen San Francisco Poster Syndicate screen printing live and giving away free posters at political actions over the last several years. Poster Syndicate has been a regular presence at these actions, whether at the Dakota Access Pipeline protests, Fight For Fifteen actions, protests against ICE internment camps, or at any of dozens of large scale political protests during the Trump Administration. But they have also been printing live at community art galleries, mural unveilings, and working in the background creating graphics for organizers in homeless rights, electoral and union campaigns.
Monsters & Heroes represents two faces of the political graphics created by the lose-knit grouping of over 100 artists and activists who together have produced work in support of a wide range of organizations fighting for immigration justice, racial justice, climate justice, and economic justice since 2014.
https://sfpl.org/exhibits/2021/10/30/monsters-heroes
Art Hazelwood archive at UCSC
I know I should be on some social media site blabbing about all this rather than cramming it into one email in your already overstuffed mailbox. However, I wanted to express my joy that the Special Collections Library at the University of California Santa Cruz (my alma mater) has acquired as much of my political prints as I could dredge up to give them. Over 250 pieces.
It’s a great honor for me to have my work preserved in this way. The library plans to use the works in actively engaging with students. And, of course, I’ll be nestled up close (alphabetically at least) to Jerry Garcia whose archives are there as well.
Art Hazelwood
