Drawing Resistance - a traveling political art show

Drawing Resistance is a group art show of two-dimensional artwork by 31 artists from North America. The content based show speaks to matters that are vital to understanding the world today. Some of the subjects include the anti-globalization movement, working class rights, the destruction of the environment, corporate control, police brutality, homelessness, gentrification and the Zapatista liberation movement in Mexico.

The show, organized by Sue Simensky Bietila (Ashland, Wisconsin) and Nicolas Lampert (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) first opened in Milwaukee on September 7, 2001. The inspiration and the energy for creating the show came out of the anti-globalization movement and the massive protests in Seattle, Quebec City, Prague, and other cities around the world from 1999-2001.

Rather than exhibiting Drawing Resistance in one city (or those where political art is frequently shown), the show travels to cities in the United States, Canada and Mexico on a monthly basis for a 5 year continuous period. In each city or town that the show is exhibited, local hosts select the space and the events which compliment the traveling exhibition. Past events have ranged from political art shows by local artists, documentary film nights, skill share events, artist talks and street art performances. The structure of the local shows is open and encourages the community and the audience to participate.

Drawing Resistance has no funding and relies solely on the communities that host the show to transport it to the next site. The show's collective organizing method draws upon the D.I.Y. (do-it-yourself) culture, and like a punk band on tour, the art show is getting in the van! By traveling, the show has become a networking device that has connected different scenes and people who were previously unaware of each others work. In the first two years, Drawing Resistance has traveled over 5,000 miles to 19 cities and countless numbers of individuals have made the show unique to their own vision.

The show raises a number of vital questions that are not often considered. The Detroit writer, David Sands stated that Drawing Resistance "doesn’t have a lot to do with curators, museums, or hard-to-figure-out splotches on the wall. Instead, it has much to do with what’s missing from most of the me-me-me money-money-money world of contemporary art. That is, a sense of urgency beyond one’s individual self; a feeling of anger-hope-responsibility for the world and the people around us; a bridging between creative and political realities that artists all too often choose to ignore."

"Political art" may be the only adjective that links the artists featured in the show. Choice of mediums range from prints to quilts whereas communication devices differ from agit-prop to those open to multiple interpretations. Some choose to comment upon issues that are community based whereas others address international issues. Fully three generations of artists are represented in Drawing Resistance.

Among the 31 artists in Drawing Resistance is Carlos Cortez (Chicago) whose woodcuts and posters for the Industrial Workers of the World (I.W.W.) have given voice to the voiceless for the last 50 years. The political comic book work/street stencils of Seth Tobocman and Peter Kuper of New York City, who first published "World War 3 Illustrated" in 1979 present two seminal images to the exhibit. Another artist with roots from WW3 is Eric Drooker (San Francisco). Working primarily in the scratchboard medium, he has created some of the most memorable protest images of the last decade. The comic book style of Andy Singer (St. Paul) and Sabrina Jones (New York) are also featured.

Other participants include the collage artist, Freddie Baer (San Francisco) and the block print artist, Richard Mock (New York City) whose work has often found a home in the anarchist paper, "The Fifth Estate". The legendary San Francisco punk band, the Dead Kennedys, and the punk label, Alternative Tentacles, is known just as much for the visual impact and humor of the album cover art by Winston Smith (San Francisco) and John Yates (England/San Francisco) as it is for the music.

The children's book, "Questions and Swords: Folktales of the Zapatista Revolution" written by Subcomandante Marcos' was beautifully illustrated by Domitila Dominguez and Antonio Ramirez (Guadalajara, Mexico).

Other artists include Rocky Tobey (Toronto) who designed the poster found in the streets of Quebec during the protest of the Summit of the America's (FTAA) that took place in April, 2001. The urban streets and alleys are home to the stencils and posters of Josh Macphee (Chicago) and Robbie Conal (Los Angeles). The work of Corinne Rhodes (New York City) and Emily Abendroth (Oakland) are both directly inspired by their human rights work in Chiapas, Mexico. Kehban Grifter and Juan Manchu of the Beehive Collective (Machias, Maine) present complex images about US involvement in South America that is a  collaboration between the artists and the communities that they have visited in Columbia.

To curate the show, Nicolas Lampert and Sue Simensky Bietila drew up a list of artists whose work they admired and then asked friends for their recommendations to complete the invitation. Seth Tobocman and Josh Macphee were particularly helpful with artist contacts. Allan Antliff organized or facilitated most of the Canadian tour. Overall though, the show came together and has traveled by the work of hundreds of people, many of whom have never met in person.

William Eisenstein of Urban Ecology reflected, "Drawing Resistance is a bracing, enlivening panorama of radical humanism, stretched wide by the expansive hopes and traumas of our times. Long may it travel."

The web site (www.drawingresistance.org) includes information, artist biographies, the show schedule, press, in depth interviews and links.

Enjoy the show.