The second artist (though it may seem the first because of the order I published them in) that I found more than intriguing was an artist named Art Hazelwood. While his name might have been outlandish, his work was interesting. I first saw his black and white pieces, these are prints which are strictly black and white, very similar to the style of printing I come across most frequently in my quest for obscure albums, some would call them the shitty album art printed in white and black or red and black or green and black. The only constant is the black which stands out against the colored background, making the image on the cover particularly intense. Art’s first print on his homepage was exactly this, and while it didn’t have the content which I see most frequently, it was still reminiscent of those pieces I’ve seen before, which are unfortunately unsigned in almost every case.
Arthur is also living in California, and acquired his BA in 1983. His life consists of walking the line between political activist, artist and curation. Since he’s had his degree for more than 20 years, the number of shows he has put together as well as a list of his works is staggering. He has done public murals, and even more itner3esting pieces, such as working with inmates from San Quentin making a linocut which was then printed with a steamroller. He has collections in the library of congress, has also written books and given speeches championing his causes against war and homelessness.
Again, there were two pieces which I was particularly fond of. The first were the entire set of 10 prints entitled Hubris Corpulentus. These were black and grey prints done intaglio style. He actually said below these prints “The minuteness, obsessiveness and control required were the perfect match for my wish to focus anger at details of this monumentally hubristic war.” Some part of me is doubting that people are going to read this, and this doubt goes further into my imagining the use of a derivative of hubris in any sort of statement. The picture below is a flyer for the print entitled the four horsemen. He also made an interesting Iraqopoloy piece, which is also worth checking out. This was actually done on Lennox paper, and is an ongoing series that he has been outputting since 2006. There are still several pieces of his work for sale, and some are quite interesting.
The above is the 4 horsemen piece, viewable at http://arthazelwood.com/prints/Hubris/4%20horsemen.htm. Stop being so fucking lazy; copy and paste the link.
Iraqopoly circa 2006
www.arthazelwood.com
I read it btw.
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