All Power to the People

Comments (0) By Michael Leaverton Wednesday, Nov 19 2008

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Rest assured that artist Emory Douglas’ images of protest are not based on experiences glimpsed from afar -- Douglas was the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party. His graphic art has the immediacy of a lobbed brick, from the boy selling Panther All Power to the People newspapers to the rifle-slung revolutionaries to the collage of corporate symbols supporting our puppet president (this one in particular being Gerald Ford). His work was the cornerstone of the Panthers' visual style, and served to educate people through the group’s newspapers and pamphlets – lately his stuff has been appearing in museums as well, such as the 150 pieces that appeared in Los Angeles’ Museum of Contemporary Art early this year. Today he headlines an exhibit memorializing another Panther hero, Bobby Hutton, who died in 1968 in a hail of police gunfire when he was 17 years old, shirtless, and attempting to surrender. The "Bobby Hutton Memorial Benefit Art Show" also has one of the most striking lineups we’ve seen in a while. Contributors, by no means all of them, include Andrew Schoultz, Swoon, Rigo 23, Shaun O'Dell, Monica Canilao, Trevor Paglen, Matt Gonzalez, John Dwyer, Barry McGee, and Ana Teresa Fernandez.
Nov. 29-Dec. 6, 2008