2 minute read
DIRTY GRAPHICS: SILKSCREENING THE SIGN OF THE TIMES
Giancarlo Cipri
In the fall of 2023, Andrew Castrucci (BFA 1983 Illustration) offered the fifteenth iteration of his Silkscreen and Street Graphics course in the SVA Printshop.
Andrew, a graduate of SVA and artist in his own right, is celebrated for his two works: Your House is Mine and Fracktured Lives. The works are rooted in activism and stand as a testament to protecting his homeland. Ultimately, Andrew is a master silkscreener who urges for change. This is the ethos of his class.
Andrew begins the semester by highlighting that the class is fun; students not only learn how to silkscreen, but also how to publish their work in various forms such as zines and public posters. Midway through the course, Andrew swaps hats—from teacher to art director—and introduces the “Dirty Graphics” collective. Said collective uses screen-printed posters as a medium offering solutions to current sociopolitical issues. He then coins a phrase or term, relating to the “sign of the times.” This semester, it was “apocalypse.”
The term apocalypse was chosen as it encapsulates everything from climate change and social injustice to political unrest and economic inconsistency. Despite the often negative connotation for apocalypse, he urged for our works to suggest a solution; apocalypse was championed for its qualities of rebuilding, or rebirth, after a fall.
So, with the theme of apocalypse set, prints are made on 20" x 23" sheets of newsprint and paper, lending themselves to be wheat-pasted on temporary construction fences in the Lower East Side. ◆
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