Thursday, October 31, 2013

Poster of the Week



HAPPY HALLOWEEN – IF THIS DOESN’T SCARE YOU NOTHING WILL!

COURT AWARDS $38,000 TO POLICE OFFICER WHO PEPPER SPRAYED STUDENTS
DURING PEACEFUL SIT-IN  AT U.C. DAVIS IN 2011.

The World Famous Linda Katehi Anti-Occupy Spray Patent Pending
Roque Montez
Taller Arte Del Nuevo Amanecer (TANA)
Silkscreen, 2012
Davis, California
39967

UC Davis police Lieutenant John Pike, who pepper-sprayed students during a peaceful sit-in at an "Occupy UCD" demonstration in Davis, Calif. on Nov. 18, 2011, was awarded $38,000 to compensate him for psychiatric damage he claimed to have suffered from the 2011 incident.   The students he pepper sprayed received less--$30,000 each.
Students were seated arm and arm and refused to follow police commands to move when Pike and another officer doused them with pepper spray at close range.

Pike was immediately put on paid administrative leave following the incident, which drew criticism from all over the country and had many calling for Chancellor Linda Katehi to be fired.

Pike had been collecting a six-figure salary until his separation from the department in July 2012. He filed a worker’s comp claim on grounds that he was victimized by the way he was treated after the fact.

A scathing 190-page report on the incident found that university officials and UC Davis police used poor judgment and excessive force in the confrontation. And the incident was widely mocked in satirical messages posted on the Internet in which still photos of Pike wielding his pepper spray were inserted into famed works or art or pop culture images.
The university last fall agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought on behalf of the 21 students who got sprayed and later reported suffering panic attacks, trauma and academic problems as a result.

Sources:
http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/10/23/21105239-university-of-california-cop-who-pepper-sprayed-student-protesters-awarded-38000?lite

Tuesday, October 1, 2013

Poster of the Week


Support the U.F.W.A. International Boycott
Ricardo Favela
Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF)
Silkscreen, 1976
Sacramento, CA
2497

José Montoya, poet, muralist, printmaker, musician and teacher died last week at 81. He taught at California State University, Sacramento for 27 years and served as Poet Laureate of Sacramento from 2002 to 2004.  In 1969, José and other activists, artists, poets and students (including Esteban Villa, Juanishi Orosco, Ricardo Favela, Armando R. Cid, Eva Garcia, Lorraine García-Nakata, Juan Cervantes, and Joe Serna, Jr.) co-founded the Royal Chicano Air Force (RCAF).  Initially named Rebel Chicano Art Front, they changed their name in response to confusion caused by having the same initials as the Royal Canadian Air Force.  The RCAF was noted for their outrageous humor, and built upon the Royal Canadian Air Force connection by dressing as WWII pilots—as in the above poster of the week—and claiming to fly adobe airplanes.   
RCAF was one of the earliest and most influential of the Chicano art collectives.  Based in Sacramento, the RCAF advocated for Chicano civil rights and the United Farm Workers.  They often brought silkscreen equipment right into the fields, producing posters on site.
CSPG’s Poster of the Week was done by RCAF co-founder Ricardo Favela.  Four members of the RCAF, dressed in WWII bomber jackets, are doing creative boycotting in front of a Safeway Market, targeted by the United Farm Workers for selling non union grapes and lettuce.  After the photo was taken they accidentally entered a parade—where they won 2nd prize for the best float!
The Center for the Study of Political Graphics is honored to have more than 60 RCAF silkscreens in the archive, and will continue to exhibit these powerful graphics to future generations.  José Montoya’s work will continue to inspire.

José Montoya
(1932-2013)

¡ PRESENTE !


To see an interview with José Montoya:

Additional Sources: