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Rage Against The War

I created the silkscreen print No Más Guerra (No More War) in 1983. It was a statement against the wars then raging in Central America and around the globe during the Cold War, including the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. Later, in the 2000s, I distributed the poster at antiwar protests against the US war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Now unbelievably,…

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Afghanistan Apocalypse

Imagine being an artist in a country that banned art. Furthermore, to save yourself and your family, you had to burn all of your paintings before the theocratic zealots of the unelected “government” could discover them. “My heart shatters to see and talk to Afghan artists who have started destroying their own art out of fear. Afghanistan is becoming black…

M16 Art Project
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M16 Art Project

With its M16 Art Project, the “peace activist” organization Peace One Day, asked 14 contemporary artists “to use decommissioned M16 assault rifles to produce artwork, thereby continuing the story of taking objects of war and using them in support of peace.” The M16 Art Project is the companion exhibition to the earlier AKA Peace exhibit mounted by Peace One Day…

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What is art when we have perpetual war?

“Who needs art when we have perpetual war?” is a question that would be asked by a general who runs a garrison state. “What is art when we have perpetual war?” is a question that could only be asked by an artist. I am an artist who believes that art reflects social realities, whether consciously or unconsciously, and that social…

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Libros No Bombas – Books Not Bombs

My painting, Libros No Bombas (Books Not Bombs), was one of two canvases I premiered at the exhibition, ¡ADELANTE! Mexican American Artists: 1960s and Beyond, which took place at the Forest Lawn Museum in Glendale, California from September 9, 2011 through January 1, 2012. The painting is available as a 6″ x 11″ inch full-color postcard reproduction (pictured above); the…

The War Is Finished!

In 1983 a poster appeared on walls all across Soviet occupied Afghanistan. The print featured a tough Soviet Red Army soldier kneeling in the snow, smashing his Kalashnikov automatic rifle over his knee while roaring – “The war is finished! Let’s go home!” I thought of that poster when President Obama announced on Dec. 16, 2010 that there was “significant…

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A Great Nation Deserves Great Tanks

Few artworks from the 20th century make the connection between war production and the impoverishment of society as clearly as the French poster from May 1968, “Light wages – heavy tanks.” Created by an anonymous artist from the Atelier Populaire collective that was active in Paris during the student/worker revolt of May ’68, the poster came to mind when I…