IN THE CLASSROOM
Painting as a Form of Consciousness
by Georgette Maniatis
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Top of page: James H. Trowell focuses on translating the model into a political form. Directly above: James H. Trowell’s colorful palette. Left: Harry Wyatt paints hands of resistance. Below: Christina Ballantyne paints futurist lines.
6 • CONTINUED / FALL 2018
ne evening while walking into one of Andrew Castrucci’s painting classes, I was struck by the metallic sound of jazz floating around the classroom. Each student was transfixed on translating the model in front of them with an intent that transcended both realism and abstraction. Their energy was palpable, focused. When I asked about the students’ depth of feeling, Castrucci explained that the lesson this week was “reflective of the culture of war, the atomic bomb, Jackson Pollock vs industrial noise music, the Italian Futurists and Picasso’s Guernica. The style of painting that week was to encompass this fast angular explosive energy.” Looking at the students’ paintings, there was powerful evidence that the figure interpreted on the canvases reflected a voice of the future and a rejection of the past. For decades, Castrucci has built a reputation for inspiring students to not only create beautiful art, but to create art that can inspire change in the world. I asked him about what he thinks about making art under the current administration. He responded, “Pols are elected to protect us. When they don’t do their job, this forces us as artists to be the muckrakers, the
moral compass, the high priests, the shamans.” In 2001 he founded Dirty Graphics, a collective activist group based out of SVA’s print shop. There, students create art as a means of resistance, as a tool raising collective consciousness. The powerful imagery displayed on the posters created within the Dirty Graphics collective are then taken to the streets of NYC where they are seen by the thousands during protests such as Not My President, the Women’s March and March for Our Lives. Following the protests, the posters are then wheat-pasted on open spaces throughout the city, further activating the public to engage in conversation through guerilla installation art. In the fall 2018 semester, SVACE will be offering a printmaking and silkscreen course entitled Dirty Graphics: Art and Activism, where students will be encouraged to take a closer look at the political landscape of our times and magnify the issues at hand through their creative work. For the majority of Andrew Castrucci’s students, their art is much more than a thing of beauty. Their art reflects a strong sense of social justice, determined and willing to stand tall in the face of adversity.