Art Hazelwood and Ronnie Goodman: Speaking to the Issues

Two San Francisco Bay Area artists, Art Hazelwood and Ronnie Goodman, confront and tackle such present-day realities as homelessness, poverty, war, corruption and violence in their art. Consonant with the exhibition of works from Mexico’s Taller de Gráfica Popular and squarely in its tradition of sociopolitical commentary, the linocuts, woodcuts, etchings and books in this exhibition showed two skilled artists fearless in goading viewers from complacency or from indifference to injustice.

Goodman, born and raised in San Francisco, had a troubled youth and lived on the streets before being convicted of burglary. During his sentence, he attended the San Quentin Arts in Corrections Program taught by Hazelwood. Since serving his time, he has remained homeless but continues to make art, obtaining his materials through Hospitality House, a San Francisco homeless resource center, and working in a friend’s studio space. Goodman is also a distance runner and credits that practice with helping him stay sober.

Hazelwood studied at the University of California at Santa Cruz and traveled to Asia after graduation. He lived in Vienna to focus on his art and eventually settled in San Francisco. Although his art was already overtly political, it became even more so as he made screen prints for Street Sheet, a San Francisco newspaper focused on homelessness. Hazelwood has also created work for the Western Regional Advocacy Program, which distributes it under a Creative Commons license.

Both artists draw on the tradition of the Works Progress Administration Federal Art Project in their creation of striking black-and-white prints, conveying strong political messages through their art.