Subject: Human Rights, Totalitarianism, Freedom, Protest Category: Mixed Media Mediums, Materials & Styles: Mediums: Acrylic, Crayon, Found Objects, Pastel, Paper, Magazine Cut Outs, Image print-outs, Acrylic flow release, Acrylic drying retarder, Acrylic Matte gel, Acrylic shiny gel, Acrylic archival sealant, Oil pastels, Chalk (water-based) pastel, Interference Paint, pencil, felt pen Materials: Acrylic paints (various) Archival paper Glue, Archival Craft Glue, Clear Glue sealant, Canvas Styles: Conceptual, Contemporary, Folk, Expressionism, Outsider-Artist, Protest Graffiti and Signage Keywords PUSSY RIOT, CATS, RUSSIAN PUNK BAND, JUSTICE, FREEDOM, Protest, Justice, Injustice, Kaleidoscopic, Graffiti, Fear, Courage, Black, Tattered, Hope, Resistance, Free, Bonding, Exhortation, Inspiration, Uniting, Coalition, Coalition, brave, creative, innovation Description: This work was inspired by my passion for the women of PUSSY RIOT. These four single working mothers formed a punk rock band in Moscow defined by humorous protest. They playfully poked fun at Putin's increasing repressive regime by wearing colorful costumes and performing their music in unconventional places. After filming a music video in a decommisioned Church, the increasingly popular bandmembers were all arrested by state police, who stormed their apartments in the middle of the night. After months long trials during which the women were held in steel reinforced glass cages, they were found guilty of Sedition, Treason and Blasphemy. Their show trials and subsequent sentencing to decades long sentences at distant labor camp Gulags made headlines worldwide. Dozens of Human Rights organizations in over 50 countiezs formed a coalition to protest, crowd fund, and create an international legal aid organization to work on their release. The rallying cry, FREE PUSSY RIOT became a meme and a reason for protesting. And hundreds of thousands of people globally did protest. And after almost 7 years, one by one the women were freed and allowed to emigrate. I still find this story moves me to the core. My work on the PUSSY GRABS BACK, or FREE PUSSY RIOT series of paintings began in 2008. In 2014, I was approached by Jonathan Shimony, the Curator of the Galleries of American University of Paris. He wanted to Commission a Solo Exhibition of the work for the Largest, main Gallery. I said yes. I flew to Paris to photograph and measure every corner of the Space. I was inspired by the Graduate and Undergraduate Art Students at the University. I learned that somehow they had learned of my work and it was their enthusiasm that made the exhibit happen. I was inspired by their enthusiasm. I realized that I would need to have everything carefully shipped in hand crafted museum designed crating and the process would take months. This was my first solo exhibition so this was all very new to me! In the middle of my preparations, the media conglomerate I worked for, Discovery Communications transferred me from Washington DC to Knoxville, TN to the Scripps Networks headquarters where HGTV, FOOD, TRAVEL and other brands were based. The exhibition opening was pushed from 2016 to Spring 2017. It was the most thrilling experience I had ever had! I hope viewers will enjoy the humor, whimsy, passion and graffiti like messaging embedded in the various artworks. I used a variety textures and layers in this piece, CAT CORPS, which is one of the very first pieces I completed. The exhibition consisted of more than 30 individual works. I chose to use repetitive cut outs of images of cats juxtaposed for thematic effect throughout the exhibition. The underlying intent in all the work is to honor and celebrate the heroic women in the band PUSSY RIOT.

Artwork Size & Ink Base:

61 x 122

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Daniel Aaron Schwartz

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