WELCOME TO THE OUTSIDER ART OF ANTHONY PAPA
Anthony Papa at the Whitney Museum of American Art talking about his art and activism 4/2004 Click below for more photos
http://www.15yearstolife.com/htm.htm/whitney_museum_of_american_art_e.htm
Artistic Statement: "I use my art as a means of visually translating the deep emotional responses of the human condition. My life choices forced me to discover my hidden artistic talent. In the same way I try to make that intuitive connection with the viewer of my art by living through my work, breaking down barriers that separate us from truth"
If interested in collecting a piece of art contact me at anthonypapa123@yahoo.com or tpapa@drugpolicy.org for availability or call 646-420-7290
Papa`s art has been widely exhibited from places like the Whitney Museum of American Art to leading contemporary galleries. His art has been displayed as cover pieces for numerous books (see BOTTOM OF PAGE) and featured in Rita Gilberts college text "Living with Art" 5th Ed. by McGraw Hill. His work has been shown through slide shows at major Universities and many forms of printed media found in a mix of magazines, newspapers, and televison shows such as Cafe Review, Profound Word, Sandbox, In These Times, The Nation, High Times, Sojournal, The Humanist, Utne, Gotham Gazette, Salon, America, Hope, ColorLines, Counterpunch, Dark Field Notes, Impact Press, Socialist Worker, NY Press, NY Times, NY Post, Newsday, Washington Post, NY Daily News, Staten Island Advance, NY Law Journal, Court TV, Democracy Now, NPR, Global Visions Rights & Wrongs, C-Span, and NY 1
The art displayed on this web site is in two parts
PART ONE / Recent works from 1997 to present
PART TWO / THE PRISON YEARS 1984 - 1996
Papa’s art displays what the uninitiated eye might miss. It captures the experience of time in prison, the moment-by-moment experience of the pains of imprisonment. In this sense, Papa’s art is existential and intentionally exaggerated. Papa finds symbolic expression of imprisonment, for example, in the blades of the many yards of razor wire woven around the sides, tops and bottoms of the many yards of multiple fences, which stand as guards protecting the thirty-foot walls, electrified fences and the well-armed guard towers from the prisoner’s touch—these blades loom large in Papa’s art. Papa often depicts these blades against the background of the Hudson Rive r. In Trinity, for example, each blade re p resents a double-edged sword, cutting the fabric of life between beauty and ugliness, between the freedom of the Hudson and the pathos of imprisonment, an all-consuming reminder about on which side of life the prisoner lives. 15 Years to Liife — Se l f – Portrait captures the emotional experience of this discovery, when Papa realized that the best years of his life would be lost floundering in the belly of the beast. But his deeply felt pain and sense of hopelessness matured into political consciousness. Papa expresses this consciousness in Politics of Reality, which depicts the politics of misery in its cultural manifestations—religious values and national pride— destroying the quality of human life. The destructive machinery of government finds its alter ego in Corporate Asset. Here, Papa paints an image of an industry of misery —what has lately been dubbed the prison industrial complex—legislated by small-minded, mean-spirited, tough-on-crime politics. Nightmare of Justice portrays the effects of the politics and industry of crime. They affect Papa where they affect every prisoner in the body and soul of his life. Fry Chicken, Not People takes the corruption of the American criminal justice to its logical conclusion, the death penalty. In this painting, the death penalty is the consummate symbol of political power: George Bush taking to himself the omnipotence of God, Papa lying in a coffin, a tombstone echoing Thrasymachus’ ancient quip:‘Justice is the advantage of the stronger.’ It is true, but there is also strength in perseverance. In Metamorphosis, Papa offers testimony to his own tenacity of spirit and refusal to give up. The change came for Papa when he picked up a paintbrush, then the hand of freedom was his own, and he has been painting his way to freedom ever since, turning barbed wire into butterflies.
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Recent Art Events
| Artist, Activist Tony Papa
to Highlight Cruel Drug War with Art Installation at
Criminal Justice Conference at John Jay College in
NYC on August 9-10 ... stopthedrugwar.org/in_the_trenches/ |
| 15 Years to Life,
The official site of Anthony Papa, artist, writer,
noted advocate against the war on drugs, and co-founder of
the Mothers of the New York ... anothercupdevelopment.org/ |
March 29, 2005: Art Sale to Benefit the Drug Policy Alliance at Cheim Read Gallery www.cheimread.comhttp://www.drugpolicy.org/news/pressroom/pressrelease/pr030905.cfm
|
Randy & Charles Fisher from Hip Hop Action Summit for Youth with Anthony Papa, Teresa Aviles, Christiana Harvey in front of Papa's painting "Corporate Asset" exhibited at Cheim Read Gallery NYC
SEAN LENNON & ANTHONY PAPA
CORPORATE ASSET- EXHIBITED
Sold to collector Peter Greer
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http://avenuea.org/ev/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=65&Itemid=39
Friday, 23 February 2007 by Julia Baxter
A Night of Life and Energy: Anthony Papa Art Opening at the Lower East Side Girls Club
The
cozy interior of the gallery at the Lower East Side Girls club seems worlds away
from the scenes displayed on the gallery’s walls on the opening night of the
exhibit Now & Then: The Art of Anthony Papa. The collection of oil works depicts
Papa’s twelve years spent battling prison reform and federal drug laws through
painting. While serving a fifteen years to life sentence for a nonviolent drug
offense under the Rockefeller Drug Laws, Papa took up his paintbrush to capture
individual moments from life in prison, and the ultimate dehumanization of the
system.
While some paintings, like “A View of the Hudson,” portray the feeling of being
constantly trapped by barbed wire (a “recurring motif” in his paintings from
this period, according to Papa) and limited to his solitary view of the river
from Sing Sing; others are complete pictorial narratives. Papa provides some
background to these stories to the patrons attending his art opening and the
Girls Club fundraiser. “Body Cavity Search,” for instance, speaks to his
experience undergoing excessive body cavity searches upon returning to prison
from a visit with his mother, and his subsequent mission to make public the
correct laws regarding body cavity searches by incorporating actual copies of
law book pages detailing the proper procedures into the body of the painting.
Untitled 4
The
other half of the 70-piece collection on display at the Girls Club through March
5 tells a different story. Papa began these works after being granted clemency
in 1997 by then-Governor Pataki and moving to Brazil. His more recent paintings
reflect the spiritual influences gained in the two-year stay. In addition to the
use of a softer and brighter color palette, these paintings evoke moods rather
than tell stories. Prana flowers replace the ubiquitous barbed wire, as Papa
aims to capture “the spiritual life energy” of his present rather than the
“nightmare of the justice system” of his past.
Life energy is plentiful at the Lower East Side Girls Club on this evening. A
group of cheerful young women greet guests at the front of the club, standing
before La Tiendita, a small store operated by the Club members on weekends and
selling “Girl Made, Fair Trade,” products, such as lead-free pottery crafted by
women in Mexico. The baked goods being served to event patrons at the cafÈ
counter were baked by the girls at the Club’s Sweet Things Bake Shop, and they
employed the curatorial skills they learned in the Club’s Arts+Community program
to create tonight’s display. These entrepreneurial and educational programs are
only a few of the activities available to the Club’s members to prepare them for
the future.
Scattered Visions
The Lower East Side Girls Club
has been thriving since its inception in 1996 to provide the resources for
economically disadvantaged girls and young women that had so far only been made
available to the community’s boys. The Club now boasts of a wide variety of
professional, educational and cultural training programs for 300 local girls,
ages 8-23 years old, including participation in income generating ventures such
as the Sweet Things Bake Shop on Avenue C, La Tiendita, the Arts+Community
Gallery and curatorial program, and opportunities to attend professional
training conferences. In addition to these programs, the Club’s full-time staff
and 100 plus volunteers are on hand daily tutoring the young women and
organizing cultural events such as Sunday’s craft corner and the members’
musical performances on Saturdays.
Looking forward for The Lower East Side Girls Club and for Anthony Papa:
The staff and girls look forward to their planned 2008 move to the Girls Club’s
new 25,000 square foot headquarters at a state-of-the-art, environmentally
sustainable facility currently being built on Avenue D.
Since the termination of his sentence, Papa has worked tirelessly in the drug law reform activism through his painting and writing. His book 15 Years to Life is currently being made into a feature film.
The
Lower East Side Girls’ Club:
http://www.girlsclub.org/
Julia Baxter is
a writer residing in the East Village.
You can email Julia at
juliabaxter51@gmail.com
_____________
http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Anthony_Papa.html
Oakland, CA - Noted artist, activist and author Anthony Papa will highlight the casualties of the war on drugs at an art installation during the Harm Reduction Coalition conference in Oakland November 9-12. The Harm Reduction Coalition conference brings together hundreds of drug policy reform advocates from across the country to discuss effective public health approaches to dealing with drug use and misuse. The conference will take place November 9-12 at the Marriot Hotel, Oakland City Center, 10001 Broadway, Oakland ,CA 94607
“The Drug War” is an art installation by artist/activist Anthony Papa. The installation is a multi-media presentation that visually portrays some of the most compelling drug war issues in the news. The visual narratives in the installation are powerful reminders of the raging war on drugs that ravages many of our communities.
“The use of art as a political weapon is not new,” says Papa who discovered his political awareness through his art and has used his art as a vehicle to fight the drug war. “Through history, the role of the artist as a social commentator has been invaluable. Art is a great vehicle for expressing views to others in a way that is unmatched in any other media outlet for its truthfulness”.
“Like Picasso’s ‘Guernica’ and Goya’s ‘Third of May,’ which both powerfully portrayed the atrocities of war, my installation follows their lead in revealing the impact of Americas drug war.
Papa spent 12 years in prison for a first time non-violent drug offense. While imprisoned, he discovered his artistic talent. In 1995, after a showing of his art at the Whitney Museum, his case attracted national attention. Two years later, New York Governor George Pataki granted Papa executive clemency. Papa currently works for the Drug Policy Alliance.
The installation highlights issues that affect all Americans, whether they use drugs or not. It is steeped in a continuous motif of an upside down American flag, which signifies the universal concept of the state of distress in war.
“Justice in Black and White” shows the racial imbalance of the effects of the New York’s Rockefeller Drug Laws. Ninety-four percent of those incarcerated under the laws are black and Latino. Ten crying babies dress in prison garb dangle in front of their incarcerated mothers and ask “where are our mothers?”
“Two Years in Jail for One Joint” shows the madness of the drug war. Mitchell Lawrence, an 18-year-old was sentenced to two years in jail for one joint by an over zealous prosecutor in Massachusetts. A single golden joint sits in a silver jewelry box surrounded by dozens of candles
“Give Them All Dirty Needles and Let Them Die” - taken from the cruel quote of TV’s “Judge Judy” - boldly illustrates how New Jersey is the only U.S. state that lacks a needle exchange program. Dozens of bloodied syringes penetrate a coffin draped with the New Jersey flag.
In “Cops or Docs” a marijuana plant asks the question who should decide what medicine we should put in our bodies.
Papa hopes the installation raises awareness for those in mainstream society who rarely think about the drug war.
“I use my art as a means of visually translating the deep emotional responses of the human condition. My life choices forced me to discover my hidden artistic talent. In the same way I try to make that intuitive connection with the viewer by living through my work, breaking down barriers that separate us from truth.” ...Anthony Papa
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Anthony Papa’s art has won broad acclaim !
New York Times’ art critic Roberta Smith praised his most famous painting "15 Years To Life" as an "ode to art as a mystical, transgressive act that is both frightening and liberating, releasing uncontrollable emotions of all kinds."
Donatella Lorch of The NY Times has said his "reality is a canvas of rage and sorrow".
Salon.com exclaims "his despairing portraits of captivity -- some two-dimension and allegorical, like Diego Rivera, others roiling and impressionistic, like Francis Bacon".
The Amsterdam News exclaimed "Anthony Papa's self-portrait "15 Years To Life" is as unsettling as "The Scream" the masterpiece by Edvard Munch".
The Associated Press noted, ‘His paintings have brought him distinction both inside and out side prison walls.’
The Gannett Suburban Newspaper stated that Papa’s art ‘creates caustic political statements in vivid colors.’
´Democracy Now´ declares "Papa is an accomplished and acclaimed artist painting a powerful collection of images relating to his prison experience".
New York Press recently exclaimed "...he has astounding visual imagination...
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PART 1
Prana Self-Portrait 2006
2004 - Red Portrait of Anthony's Prana
2004 - Scattered Visions
2006 Untitled 1
2006 Untitled 2
2006 Untitled 3
2006 Untitled 4
September 2005 : Blue Prana & White Flower
2005 : Orange Flower Prana
August 2005 :Blue Prana of the Orb
4 Pranas Purging into One Resulting in the Metaphysical Disappearance of the Middle
The Physical Vibrations of a Mantra
3 Fours Dancing a Chakra
JULY 2005 Significant Spritual Visions from the Consumption of Ayawasca
JULY 2005 - Duality
April 2005 Balancing The Bird Hiding Behind the Six Planets of Life
APRIL 2005 -Shifting Into Narvarna in a Dangerous Way
2004 - Natural Symbols
2004 - Pixie
2004 -
Chakras in Shades of Music
2004 -
Chakras in Shades of Music #2
2004 -
Three Worlds in an OM
2004 -
A Symbolic Natural View
2004 -
Sacred Chakras
2003-
Lila
1999 - Lila's Magical Transformation
The Journey into the Divine
Letting Go The Rope
Searching In a Particular Way
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PART TWO /THE PRISON YEARS 1984 - 1996
15 Years To Life
Breakaway
The Kiss
She Flipped On Me
Politics of Reality
Abstract of the Hudson From Sing Sing
Vote
Mandatory Minimum Sentencing
Philosophia
Take Out Religion
Ultimate Reality
The Hudson River Viewed From Sing Sing
Fry Chicken, Not People
Life of Frank Papa
Trinity
After The Whitney
Rape of My Humanity
Manifestive Situation
Metamorphosis
White Butterflywires,Blue Hudson
Nightmare of Justice
Hell Cell
Aborted Dreams
Blue Balls
Lighting the Darkness
The Popes Holy Hand
The Birth
Corporate Asset
Religious Convictions
Disorder in the Disfunction
Body Cavity Search (see Contraband series below)
Click on the galleries below to see more art
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BOOK COVERS AND POSTERS
The Humanist Magazine Cover 9/05 issue
BOOK COVER ART BY ANTHONY PAPA
(ST. MARTINS PRESS)
BOOK COVER ART BY ANTHONY PAPA
(NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY PRESS)
BOOK COVER ART BY ANTHONY PAPA (FERAL HOUSE)
COVER ART BY ANTHONY PAPA
POSTER ART BY ANTHONY PAPA (UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS)
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Artists Involved in Art Against The Drug War
Artists if you want to add your name to the growing list email me with info (example below) at papa@15yearstolife.com
Stevenski Brewster
Maximalist Painter
481 8th Ave. # 848
NY NY 10001
(917) 295-3951
www.STVNSKI.COM
Nobuyoshi Araki
Donald Baechler
Devendra Banhart
Slater Bradley
Maurizio Cattelan
Larry Clark (1)
Larry Clark (2)
Francesco Clemente
George Condo
Gregory Crewdson
Philip-Lorca diCorcia
Maestre Didi
Marcel Dzama
William Eggleston
Mitch Epstein
Adam Fuss
Nan Goldin
Jenny Holzer
Takashi Homma (1)
Takashi Homma (2)
Roni Horn
Joseph Kosuth
Yayoi Kusama
Louise Lawler
Maya Lin
Boris Mikhailov
Yasumasa Morimura
Daido Moriyama
Yoshitomo Nara
yoko ono
Catherine Opie
Anthony Papa
Raymond Pettibon
Jack Pierson (1)
Jack Pierson (2)
Richard Prince
Terry Richardson
Clare Rojas
Ed Ruscha
Keith Sonnier
Philip Taaffe
Hellen van Meene
Kara Walker (1)
Kara Walker (2)
Kara Walker (3)
John Waters
Lawrence Weiner
Christopher Wool
| Benefit Committee including, Lauren Hutton, Agnes Gund
and Daniel Shapiro, Arianna Huffington, Jann Wenner, Montel Williams, Paula
Cooper, Brent Sikkema and Toby Devan Lewis Benefit Exhibition Curated by Diego Cortez, including works by Louise Bourgeois, Francesco Clemente, Ed Ruscha, Keith Sonnier, Anthony Papa, Jenny Holzer, Jack Pierson, Yoshitomo Nara, John Waters, Christopher Wool and Many More For Immediate Release: Wednesday, March 9, 2005. Contact: Tony Newman (646) 335-5384 NEW YORK - A remarkable group of today’s most important visual artists have joined to support the Drug Policy Alliance, the country’s leading organization promoting drug policies grounded in science, compassion, health and human rights. Among the forty plus artists donating work are Louise Bourgeois, Francesco Clemente, Ed Ruscha, and Christopher Wool. Artist and activist Anthony Papa is another artist who donated a piece. Papa began painting while behind bars on Rockefeller drug charges, and his painting "15 Years to Life" was shown in the Whitney Museum while he was still incarcerated. Media attention generated by the piece eventually led Governor Pataki to grant him clemency. In addition to the artists who have donated their work, a number of other prominent people have lent their support to the event by joining the benefit committee. This group includes Montel Williams, Lauren Hutton, Arianna Huffington and Jann Wenner. The honorary co-chairs of the event include George Soros, Jason Flom, Mathilde Krim and Peter Lewis. Cheim & Read gallery donated the space for the evening. "We are amazed and grateful that so many leading artists are willing to support our work," said Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. "Their donations of time and art will empower our efforts to reform draconian drug laws that cause so much more harm than good." What: An art sale to benefit the Drug Policy Alliance, with cocktails and
a benefit exhibition. For more information about the event, visit www.drugpolicy.org/artbenefit.
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