For more than 200 years, political art has helped ignite discussion, sway votes and entertain voters. Plymouth State University presents American Politics 2008: A View in Prints, September 15 to November 21. The exhibit opening is Wednesday, September 17, 4-6 p.m. at Lamson Library. This show displays the prints of nine northern New England artists whose works include the clever and colorful presentation of words that confront our ideas to a distinctive use of familiar political personalities and cultural icons. The exhibition is curated by David A. Beronä, director of the Lamson Library and Learning Commons.

“It is invigorating to see the enthusiasm that these artists have taken in presenting dynamic works that shake up and sometimes challenge our awareness of the political process during this important election year,” said Beronä. “These works step outside the static rhetoric of commercial media, which we have all grown numb to, and makes us all ponder the important issues that shape our lives—like the war in Iraq and our economic recession—and the threatening consequence that our vote in November will have in our future.”

The work of printmakers from Maine, New Hampshire and Vermont are presented in collaboration with the Art of Democracy, which is a national coalition of political art exhibitions taking place in the fall of 2008 on the state of the American political scene. Artists include Carroll Berg, Elizabeth D’Amico, Nancy R. Davison, Anita Dillman, Terry Downs, Brandy Gibbs-Riley, Henrieke Strecker, Adam Jacono, and Brad White.

Above: Opening Event

List of Works
All works are copyrighted by the artists.

Carroll Berg
“I am a producer of dreams and ideas through Graphic Hacking, Urban Development, Memory Disruption, and Public Interventions. I believe that Art and Design can grab your attention not only for products but also for political and social awareness. Design can tell you what is going on in your town, tell you what band will be playing or what event is happening. Design can inform you of an expansion of toll booths threatening homes or corporations moving in next door to pollute and cripple your small town economy. These posters are designed to grab your attention and help gain awareness for the issues and inform the viewer. The role of a Graphic Hacker is to use different delivery systems as well as to make bold decisions and risk taking to help others.”
Vietnam. Screen print, 32 x 22 inches.
Obama. Screen print, 26 x 20 inches.
Political Prisoner. Screen print on shirt, Image 11 x 14 inches.
Blackhawk Down. Screen print, 20 x 26 inches.

Elizabeth D’Amico
United for the Environment? Oil based collograph print, 14 x 11 inches.
“The ferns in this collograph symbolize the importance of protecting the earth’s ecology. This print is as literal and simplistic a statement as possible. Humankind must unite on all fronts to help reverse global warming. Each political party should unite on this subject if on no other.”

Nancy R. Davison
Death Toll Rising. Multiple page linocut, 2004.
“This piece is a memorial of death and despair to the utter dangerious stupidity and arrogance of the Iraq War. The block is printed 5 across and 3 deep for 180 flag-draped coffins per page–a coffin for each American killed in Iraq. As the death toll rises, I print more pages to add to the tablet format. When I began the piece in August, 2004, I printed 976 coffins. By June 2006 I had printed 2503. We have just passed 4100 dead and I need to print again.”

Change. Color linocut, 9 x 18 inches image, 15 x 24 inches, 2008.

Red Herrings. Color linocut, 4 x 18 inches image, 10 x 24 inches, 2007.
“Three Red Herrings–Abstinence, Abortion, Gay Marriage, School Prayer, Evolution, Flag Burning, Guns, and Anna Nicole–trivialize our public discourse and distract us from the overwhelming, overriding crisis of our time–Climate change and its children War, Famine, Flood, and Fear.”

Anita Dillman
Issues not Image. Lithograph, 17 x 23 inches, 2008.
“We are faced with very serious problems, many of our own making:global warming, depletion of resourcdes, environmental toxification, inadquate healthcare, the threat of nuclear annihilation (whether by armaments, accidents, or waste disposal). Ignore the rhetoric and Hollywoodization of candidates. Look below the surface. INFORM yourself. Read. Demand accountability. VOTE!”

Terry Downs
So? Charcoal and pen, 11 x 16 inches, 2008.
“At an interview, a reporter asked vice president Chaney about the relentless criticism of administrative policies regarding the war in Iraq, the huge sums of money going to the milatary-industrial complex, the deficit, the policy toward oil and energy, the policy toward the environment, the policy towards the economy and what his response was to all of that. His reesponse was ‘…SO!’ The arrogance of this imperial presidency is what motivated me to make this design.”

Brandy Gibbs-Riley

Prey for Piece. Adobe Illustrator and Epson inkjet on paper, 20 x 40 inches, 2008.
“This work is a commentary on the greed of the current administration and its prey on others in the pursuit of personal, financial, and territorial gain. ‘Pray for Peace,’ an expression of hope that transcends race, religion, and creed, takes on a dark, satirical undertone when juxtaposed the homonyms, ‘Prey for Piece’–a piece being that of land, oil, money, etc. The contradictory nature of each expression is reinforced by white and black backgrounds, symbolic of good and evil in this world.”

Henrieke I. Strecker
How long will you stay? Photopolymer plate on arches watercolor paper, 5 x 4 inches.

I had some bad experiences with Customs when I came to America. I had to go through a second security control–the only passenger from the Frankfurt-Boston flight–at the airport in Boston and they asked me very intimate questions. It seems the government’s need to take my fingerprints will never end.

Apathy Wines and Dines Tyranny. Screen print, 14 x 22 inches, 2008.

Terror Colors. Screen print, 40 x 30 inches, 2008.
Adam Jacono
“My recent work examines the gap between culture and nature, ideals and reality–with contemporary advertising at the forefront of behavioral modification. The work serves to eradicate the ideals which society places on objects and as a triumphal scream into the face of a confused culture.”

Brad White
The Young American. Digital print from drawing in oil pastels, 24 x 18 inches, 2005.
“I created this drawing immediately after President Bush declared himself ‘the decider’ on all matters in regard to his administration. This picture is a parody of old prime time television programs, and statements made by President Bush and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. The bloodshed by the youth is difficult to explain. It has something to do with the circumstantial tension our youth must be living under. It represents blood purging to remove evil from one’s self. The clothing, especially the belt is a parody on our Navy, which is more feared by opposing nations than our ground troops. The drawing is loaded with encrypted symbolism and I will leave the decoding to the viewer. I drew the youth as if a teenage boy drew the picture.”