I posted about the Sydney Hih piece I made for the WMSE Art & Music event, but I made a second piece as well this time! I used the boom box that the character Radio Raheem carries around in the film “Do the Right Thing”.
I remember seeing the film when I attended UWM and took a lot of film classes. The issues addressed in the film haven’t really changed much over the years, as we’ve seen in 2014 (twice) and 2020 and on and on and on over the years. It’s 2025 and in some ways shit is even worse than ever before.
But… I digress. “Fight the Power” seemed like a good title for this piece, as it’s something we need to keep in mind daily in these uncertain times.
WMSE has been an independent radio station fighting the establishment for over 43 years, and introduced me to so much amazing music over my lifetime that I though this music-related art was a good fit.
Like my other frame, I did the same prep work of sanding, painting, staining, clamping, gluing… I still really like this illustration. I drew it on an iPad using Procreate but tried the linocut style again and think it worked well.
The plate was the largest I could create that would fit on my press, which is 9 inches wide. Luckily it’s about the limits of my printer as well. (Though I could probably print in multiple pieces and assemble if needed.)
I ended up making one test print and then one final print for this. I don’t know if I’ll make more… maybe at a smaller size (on handmade paper?) but I do like this as a large print on some high quality paper.
As with all the art I donate I really hope someone is willing to bid on this and give it a home, while also helping to keep WMSE running and on the air for years to come.