/* fivel rothberg */

Last night i went to the opening night of “Signs of Change: Social Movement Cultures 1960’s to Now” at Exit Art. first i was simply impressed as the size of the gallery. then i went in to enjoy a large selection of political posters and some other graphics.

it was great to see works that i recognized and admire, like a large print from the Beehive Collective. they are good friends with an old roommate, morgan, who is himself a great political puppetista and propagandist. years ago he did a show about mr. block, of IWW fame, it was the first that i had heard of mr. block. part of me cried out “morgan’s work should be in this show!” okay so there are a ton of political printmakers. i suppose it was a recognition that morgan’s work is part of a strong heritage, a tradition that the Exit Art curators emphasized.

my only ‘complaint’ is that i wanted more.  maybe next time around, a similar exhibit could show the historical roots of political graphics further back than the 1960’s.

finally, there was one poster in particular that was among the Otra Campaña works. it is a poster with Mafalda as a militant Zapatista. i had seen that same poster in the Wooden Shoe and thought about buying it for Ana. but i didn’t. and then a few weeks later when i went back to the store, they had run out. grrr. wish i could find a copy somewhere. been thinking of getting a Mafalda tattoo. maybe that graphic would work well.

Exit Art is also teaming up with 16 Beaver to put on a screening series. It looks like a very impressive line-up of hard to find films.