Click on the image to enlarge [Seth Tobocman]
[AS|DLabs.com]
For
over three decades Seth Tobocman has produced artwork of rare visual originality, conceptual clarity, and political insight. His
stunning expressionist aesthetic honours, and more importantly
renews, the visual tradition of artists such as Frans Masereel, Lynd Ward and Clifford Harper; at the same time, Seth Tobocman's art is
intelligently tailored in a DIY manner that empowers a variety of
formats stemming from below, ranging from independent publishing
to stencil printing.
As a
co-founder of the pivotal independent magazine World War 3 Illustrated, as well as a comics artist, graphic novelist,
illustrator, and audio-visual performer, Seth Tobocman has eloquently
addressed key political issues, from Reaganite politics and
the squatter movement in New York, to the current neoliberal crash
and the Occupy movement. His work displays both visual
sophistication and narrative clarity; it is intellectually challenging as much as it is emotionally moving; and it takes a clear political stand in a manner which is self-reflective and open-minded, instead of didactic.
I had the pleasure of translating and participating in Seth Tobocman's audiovisual performance at the 2002 International Comics Festival in Athens. It was one of the times I have felt the strongest that our neoliberal times are far from all-encompassing, and that originally beautiful and critically reflective work opens up spaces for us to share; in short, that there is hope, as long as we have the courage and the integrity to claim it.
I had the pleasure of translating and participating in Seth Tobocman's audiovisual performance at the 2002 International Comics Festival in Athens. It was one of the times I have felt the strongest that our neoliberal times are far from all-encompassing, and that originally beautiful and critically reflective work opens up spaces for us to share; in short, that there is hope, as long as we have the courage and the integrity to claim it.
[AS|DLabs.com]
Lower East Side politics, by Seth Tobocman
I got my first real experience of political organizing when our landlord tried to impose an unjustified rent increase on our building. The residents formed a tenant union, went on rent strike, took the landlord to court and won many improvements.I became aware of the Lower East side as a community in struggle.Mayor Koch had announced that ‚"New York is a city for winners" and threatened that poor people would be pushed into the east river. There were many initiatives launched to preserve the L.E.S.. as a place where working-class and middle class folks could afford to live. One of the most inspiring was the squatters movement.In the 1980s hundreds of city owned abandoned buildings sat empty while people were freezing to death on the streets. The squatters broke into these buildings and turned them into low income housing. The squatters movement also tried to protect the rights of homeless people who lived in Tompkins Park.All of this activity led to an attempt by the city to crush the movement. But people fought back. From 1988 to 1992 there were a series of riots in the neighborhood. The Lower East Side became the focus of an international struggle for human rights.
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