Art For Change is on display at the Graduate Theological Union Library from March 15 to June 15, 2012.
The exhibition features prints, paintings, posters and mixed media created to inspire or promote social, political and economic change. Selections from the social justice collections of the GTU Archives are shown together with works by select artists over the past 50 years. Artists include Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Shephard Fairey, Matt Gonzalez, Joel Isaacson, Richard Kamler, Corita Kent, Earl Newman, Rigo, Lizabeth Eva Rossof, Favianna Rodriguez and others.
An opening reception and lecture with Matt Gonzalez took place on March 15. Gonzalez, a San Francisco politician, attorney, activist and artist, remarked:
I like the title for the show, this idea of Art For Change, I like very much. It is not art about change. It's not just here's some art that depicts a struggle. These are works of art primarily about trying to push a particular idea. And clearly they are, if you are with the movement, they inspire you. They work as a memory device, to remind you of what it is you are fighting for. They idealize what it is that you are working for. They make things larger than life. On the other hand, in many ways you can imagine that the same art can do other things, the historical document being the propaganda from the other side.
And of course the educational component, I mean somebody that isn't tuned into your cause sees a poster, sees an aesthetic object, worthy of contemplation, worthy of stopping and looking at, and just wondering what is that about, that looks interesting, we all do it in our lives. And maybe it would cause, just like that rabbit stick caused me to want to look it up and try to figure out what is this about, a similar thing happens in the mind when someone is trying to interact with their surroundings under their every day walks.
Curated by Nicholas Ukrainiec, the exhibit is made possible by the Jane Dillenberger Fine Arts Endowment Fund.
The exhibit is free and open to the public during library hours. For more information call 510-649-2500 or visit www.gtu.edu/library.