Poster Boy is back … with a book! ...

Poster Boy is back … with a book!

elisacarmichael:

carmichaelgallery:

A message from Poster Boy about K.A.R.A.T.E.:

“Hey,

As you may know, the Poster Boy book, The War of Art, came out this year. The release of this book has given a few of us the opportunity do something much more significant. At The War of Art book launch on Saturday, Aug. 28th, we will officially kick off a legal defense fund for artists.

Kids Are Rallying Against The Empire (K.A.R.A.T.E.) is a grass roots effort we hope to eventually turn into a non-profit organization. Sadly, when dealing with the legal system most artists don’t know, understand, or are intimidated into forgoing their rights. Artists are often poorly represented in court and do not have financial access to proper counsel. K.A.R.A.T.E. is committed to helping artists defend themselves in court for art-related crimes conceived in public space.

Even at its infancy K.A.R.A.T.E. has managed to get Henry Matyjewicz, a Poster Boy participant, out of prison on appeal only two weeks after being sentenced to 11months by a superior court in New York. Mr. Matyjewicz is now being represented by world class civil rights lawyer, Ron Kuby. Because of K.A.R.A.T.E. Mr. Matyjewicz now stands a fighting chance in court.

I’m officially inviting you to The War of Art book release party. Whether you come to support Poster Boy or K.A.R.A.T.E. I’m hoping to see you there. Personally, I think supporting a legal defense fund is an obligation for those who say they’re supporters of graf and street art, besides the fact that it’s long overdue.

See you there: http://www.flickr.com/photos/26296445@N05/4910264171/

Email us at karatemeat@gmail.com if you’d like to know more about the fund.

Peace,

Poster Boy”

A portion of art and book sales at the launch party will go towards helping K.A.R.A.T.E. get on its feet. Send us an email at art(at)carmichaelgallery.com if you can’t make it on the night but would like to pick up a signed print or book (or both!).

- Elisa

I don’t want to put too much that is specifically Carmichael Gallery-related on The Art Street Journal blog (you can follow the Carmichael Gallery blog for that), but I would like to call particular attention to the event we’re having on Saturday. In addition to launching the new Poster Boy book, The War of Art (which I think is awesome and totally worth getting if you like street art with an activist bent), we will be celebrating K.A.R.A.T.E., the new legal defense fund for street artists.

Many of the artists we know and/or have worked with have had to pay tough penalties for trying to get their work out there. Everyone has their own opinion of graffiti and street art and whether or not they should be considered criminal activities, but it personally really upsets me to hear that a friend of mine has been thrown in jail for painting a picture on a wall. A lot of serious crimes are committed all over the world every day and it would be nice to see the police spending their time and money looking into those instead.