Much of the world currently engages in occupying space in some way. This iteration of pulp focuses on issue-driven work whose artists choose to form a message through occupying paper. The material has long been used for just this purpose: activists, organized groups, and even persons of authority have plastered their conviction on walls, subways, and telephone poles. Flyers have made their way into the hands of many a member of a community. Paper holds an important form of communication, the written word. However the works in pulp 3 (ire straits) house the ultimate understanding, sometimes through words, but often through a more transparent language, the visual.

Issues surrounding race, security, nationalism, gender equality, religion, art, sexual orientation, and more are both subtle and bold in the work. Often matters of dissent, the sides we see and the sides we challenge, are unveiled. Philosophy and government have long been questioned by artists, often in the form of satire and political cartoons. An example of the melding of historical reference in both art and music is seen in Travis Somerville’s American Songbook (2009, acrylic on album cover). Perhaps the loudest instances throughout history happen in music. From Black Flag to Woody Guthrie to the Clash and John Lennon, voices against the grain sing loud and clear with album artwork representing the cause. However the artists in pulp 3 (ire straits) are not centered on a dialogue of activism. Rather the pieces are intensely thoughtful, hoping to enact change through calling attention to the struggle at hand.


pulp 3 (ire straits) features work by Dwayne Butcher, Louis Cameron, Bethany Collins, Willie Cole, Rodney Ewing,  Peter Fox, Coco Fusco, Guerrilla Girls, Katie Hargrave, James Hoff, Peregrine Honig, Scott Hug, Hedieh Javanshir Ilchi, Deborah Karpman, Tad Lauritzen Wright, Odili Donald Odita, Michele Pred, Pete Schulte, Leslie Smith III, Travis Somerville, and Melissa Vandenberg.






Dwayne BUTCHER

born 1977 in Dewitt, AR
lives and works in Baltimore, MD

2008 MFA (Studio Arts), Memphis College of Art, Memphis, TN
2001 BFA (Sculpture), The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN

a group of text based works, acrylic and ink on paper
each 9 by 12 in.




Stand your white ground





No one cares about no one caring





Be a Man





open season on black boys
private collection, Birmingham, AL





White liberal guilt
private collection, Birmingham, AL





Fuck Painting





Looking for a Sugar Daddy





Do it until the cops come





Artists are Assholes





Vagina ain't a dirty word





Art is Easy





For a christian you have great tits





Drink until I am a "10"







Louis CAMERON

born 1973 in Columbus, OH
lives and works in New York

1997 MFA Tyler School of Art, Temple University in Philadelphia, PA
1995 BFA University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA






A MAN WAS SHOT YESTERDAY is an anti-gun violence project.  It is based on a banner the NAACP would fly outside their New York office window whenever there was a lynching as part of their anti-lynching campaign in the 1920's and 1930's.  The banner read  "A MAN WAS LYNCHED YESTERDAY."   

The A MAN WAS SHOT YESTERDAY poster should be hung for a day in a public place whenever a man, woman, or child is shot in your city.  You can track this on the police blotter in your local newspaper, online, or through other means.

Poster size is 17 by 11 in. and you can access the downloadable link on the artist's website by clicking on the poster image on this page.


“The Poster Project is a series of posters, 11 inches by 17 inches, free for download.  I initiated this project to reach a broader audience.  The images relate to recent projects and independent works.”
  -- Louis Cameron







Bethany COLLINS

born 1984 in Montgomery, AL
lives and works in Atlanta, GA

2012 MFA (Drawing, Painting and Printmaking) Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA
2007 BFA (Studio Art and Visual Journalism) University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL




  

Blackish, 1953
Webster's New World Dictionary series

Whitish, 1951
Webster's New World Dictionary series

2013
ink on American Master's paper
each 30 by 22 in.

private collection, Birmingham, AL

Mixed, 1984
Webster's New World Dictionary series

2013
ink on American Master's paper
30 by 22 in.

Salt and pepper, 1984
Webster's New World Dictionary series

2013
ink on American Master's paper
30 by 22 in.

Yellow, 1951
Webster's New World Dictionary series

2013
ink on American Master's paper
30 by 22 in.

permanent collection of the Zuckerman Museum of Art
Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA

Willie COLE

born 1955 in Somerville, NJ
lives and works in NJ

1979 Art Students League of New York, New York, NY
1976 BFA (Media Arts) School of Visual Arts, New York, NY






¡No mas!

2011
edition of only 8 !!!
line etch, aquatint and chine collé on Rives BFK paper, signed, editioned, titled, and dated
ca. 26 1/2 by 20 1/4 in. (on ca. 32 1/2 by 25 1/2 in. paper)




            

two important 1999 single scorches on paper

the last two available from that period
1999
each ca. 11 3/4 by 9 in.







Rodney EWING

born 1964 in Baton Rouge, LA
lives and works in San Francisco, CA

1992 MFA (Printmaking) West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV
1989 BFA (Printmaking) Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA

Dry Season #4

2012
ink, water, and salt on paper
60.25 by 40.25 in.







Peter FOX

born 1962 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
lives and works in New York

1998 MFA, Tyler School of Art, Philadelphia, PA and Rome, Italy
1988 BA Architecture, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA





"Aware that acrylic paint shrinks as it dries and again over time as it cures, I set out to see if it works on paper.  I cut the self-reflexive text into a plywood panel to make a thick, re-usable stencil, place it on thin stock, fill the voids with dense paint, squeegee it smooth and then lift it.  With time, as the raised letters flatten, the paper heaves, buckles and bears a kind of literal witness to the authority of printed words."

   -- Peter Fox

NO TITLE (WORKS ON PAPER), 7.12.2013

2013
acrylic on paper
17.5 by 23.25 in.



 

NO TITLE (WORKS ON PAPER), 7.6.2013

2013
acrylic on paper
17.5 by 23.25 in.

private collection, Chicago, IL






Coco FUSCO

born 1960 in New York, NY
lives and works in New York

2007    PhD (Art & Visual Culture) Middlesex University, Hendon (London), UK
1985    MA (Modern Thought and Literature) Stanford University, Stanford, CA
1982    BA (Literature and Society/ Semiotics, magna cum laude) Brown University, Providence, RI






The Undiscovered Amerindians;
"They Are Too White to Be Indians," Said the Skeptic

2012
intaglio, engraving, and drypoint etching on paper
ca. 21 by 18 3/8 in.







GUERRILLA GIRLS

"The Guerrilla Girls are feminist masked avengers in the tradition of anonymous do-gooders like Robin Hood, Wonder Woman and Batman. How do we expose sexism, racism and corruption in politics, art, film and pop culture? With facts, humor and outrageous visuals. We reveal the understory, the subtext, the overlooked, and the downright unfair. Our work has been passed around the world by our tireless supporters. Just in the last several years, we’ve appeared at over 100 universities and museums, as well as The New York Times,Interview,The Washington Post, The New Yorker, Bitch, and Artforum; on NPR, the BBC and CBC; and in many art and feminist texts. We are authors of stickers, billboards, many, many posters and street projects, and several books including The Guerrilla Girls' Bedside Companion to the History of Western Art and Bitches, Bimbos and Ballbreakers: The Guerrilla Girls' Guide to Female Stereotypes. We’re part of Amnesty International’s Stop Violence Against Women Campaign in the UK; we're brainstorming with Greenpeace. We've unveiled anti-film industry billboards in Hollywood just in time for the Oscars, and created a large scale installation for the Venice Biennale, and street projects for Krakow, Istanbul, Mexico City and Montreal. We dissed the Museum of Modern Art at its own Feminist Futures Symposium, examined the museums of Washington DC in a full page in the Washington Post, and exhibited large-scale posters and banners in London, Athens, Bilbao, Montreal, Rotterdam, Sarajevo and Shanghai. WHAT'S NEXT? More creative complaining! More facts, humor and fake fur! More appearances, actions and artworks. We could be anyone; we are everywhere."

   -- Guerrilla Girls, from the official website (click on image to access the website)




Copyright © 1989 by Guerrilla Girls


THE ADVANTAGES OF BEING A WOMAN ARTIST

1988

private collection, Birmingham, AL


"This is one of our all-time favorites, which we did to encourage female artists to look on the sunny side. Women all over the world, not just artists, identify with it. One sent us $1,000 to run it as an ad in Artforum, a top U.S. art magazine."
   -- Guerrilla Girls


click on the above image to access the artists' website
("The official site of the Guerrilla Girls. Fighting discrimination with facts, humor and fake fur!")
  

Katie HARGRAVE

born 1985 in Chicago, IL
lives and works in Minneapolis, MN

2007 BFA (Dual Degree: Painting and Art History, cum laude) University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, IL







"The real America, the subtractive process which politicians are constantly battling, is a process which has been in the works since before this country was a country. There were drafts of the Declaration of Independence, choosing which word was more appropriate. Bigger than word choice, in building a nation, beliefs are molded and formed and philosophy is codified.

What is left? What's left are shadow states of states. There are 43 versions of the American flag. Each version represents a different nation. A state of a state. They're also political states, states of destruction, oppression. States of poverty, class warfare, indigenous land rights, and religious freedom. These are shadow states of states. And we have to continue to try to shine light on them."

     -- Katie Hargrave








13 (stars forming) constellations (the sun moves through)


2013
Laser cut Card, silkscreen, 13K white gold leaf, plywood
dims (as installed) ca. 53 by 45 by 2.5 in.

"The piece represents the original flag code, which said: There should be 13 starts forming constellations on a blue field.
It also references the 13 constellations the sun moves through (the zodiac).
The pieces can be hung in any order, as long as the Betsy Ross American Flag design (the circle) is at the bottom right."

     -- Katie Hargrave

James HOFF

born 1975 in Fort Wayne, IN
lives and works in New York



 


Stuxnet 04

Stuxnet 07

2013
ink on paper
each 8 by 5 3/8 in.

Hoff’s Stuxnet scores are a series of graphic transcriptions derived from the computer virus Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been created by the United States and Israel to debilitate Iran’s nuclear capacity. (Sanger, NYT, 060112)

The graphic works were generated using different algorithms created by the artist to correspond to the standard western 12-note scale. These particular works were processed on an invisible grid. 

Colors = Pitch

Lines = Notes

Total Octaves = 7

Stuxnet 02

2013
ink on envelope
ca. 8 3/4 by 15 1/2 in.

Hoff’s Stuxnet scores are a series of graphic transcriptions derived from the computer virus Stuxnet, which is widely believed to have been created by the United States and Israel to debilitate Iran’s nuclear capacity. (Sanger, NYT, 060112)

The graphic works were generated using different algorithms created by the artist to correspond to the standard western 12-note scale. This piece was processed on an envelope’s security graphic, underscoring the real-world phenomenon of computer viruses arriving digitally through uninvited security updates/e-mail attachments. 

Colors = Pitch

Lines = Notes

Total Octaves = 7

Peregrine HONIG

born 1976 in San Francisco, CA
lives and works in Kansas City, MO






Anchor Baby

Foreign Birth

Patriot Birth

2010
gouache and ink on paper
each ca. 11 by 10 in.

     -- Alicia Eler (from her January 5, 2012 review "There Are No Winners, Only Losers: Peregrine Honig's LOSER", click on image of Peregine's "The Beautiful Boy" hereunder to read the full article)

                

     -- The Art Reserve (click image hereunder to read full review)

                 





Scott HUG

born 1968 in Jefferson City, MO
lives and works in New York

1991 BFA School of the Art Institute, Chicago, IL






The Mess We're In

2013
collage
11.5 by 10.25 in.

private collection, Birmingham, AL

HELL TO PAY (posters)

2012
18 by 24 in.