New Prints / Newsprints * Black Male / Blackmail Favorite 

The prints exhibited June 2013 at Firestorm in Asheville NC, will comprise two separate bodies of work; Chelsea Ragan’s combination screen print / woodblock print / painting / drawings graphically detail police shootings of young black males from across the country, and Adam Void’s hand-painted screen prints state the facts of important national news stories that have been swept under the rug of mainstream corporate media.

Chelsea Ragan’s artmaking process begins with meticulous research of, in this case, 23 “unarmed black males killed by the cops.” Her frank and to-the-point description of the lives and deaths of the twenty-three individuals are made more personal with the inclusion of hand-drawn portraits and the unifying framework of the morning newspaper. Chelsea was born and raised in South Georgia, and concentrates her work on “the civil actions and racial oppression of yesterday and today.”

Adam Void is a fifteen-year veteran of the graffiti underground, a dedicated traveler and freight train hopper, and a political activist. His series, “Newsprints”, are made through a unique process of silk screening hand-painted graphics and removable vinyl lettering. The literary quality of this series is emphasized through the text heavy graphic design and choice of paper culled from antique books. Adam is originally from the Southern U.S., but has spent many years in New York as a seminal member of the Brooklyn Street Art movement, and concentrates his work on “the margins of society and bringing those realities to an audience that may not otherwise be able to see them.”

Reception: Friday, June 7th 5-8pm
Open: Friday, June 7 th – Sunday, June 30th
Location: Firestorm Café & Books, 48 Commerce St. Asheville, NC 28805