:: Death Row Art Exhibit ::

Tonight was the opening gala of "The Prison Project" which kicked off a month long series of events highlighting the multi-faceted ways that the prison industrial complex affects us not only on an economic level, but also socially, environmentally and even within basic human existence. This event highlighted artistic works that came straight from mainly individuals on Death Row, but a few others that are serving long stints in the pen.

below are the dimensions of a one-person prison cell



San Quentin has a program, Arts in Corrections, in which 300 of the 2500 inmates classified as "mainline" participate to learn drawing, painting, creative writing, printmaking, and more.







If you live in California, chances are that you live within a few miles of a prison. Over the past 10 years California has built over two dozen prisons. We lead the nation in 1st in corrections spending, but 41st in education spending. How much you say? Well, it costs the state of California about $6,000 a year per public school student, yet it spends $60,000 to incarcerate one inmate for a year. No wonder California is ranked 42nd in high school dropouts.

As you can see here, US leads the world in imprisoned citizens. Nice record to hold.



These next two are my favorite pieces, done by William Noguera. The guy spends close to a 100 hours per painting to create this "hyper-realistic, neo-cubism", almost noir-esque pointillism pieces which he adds a bit of his blood to the inkwell before he starts each one. The guy has been on Death Row since he was incarcerated in '83 at the age of 18.



Here is a closeup, the guy has got serious talent for being self-taught. He says he only dreams in black and white now.



this is done in ball point pen on a handkerchief



closeup of this piece



This piece was done on mattress fabric which became the canvas