Comandante Che Guevarra

El Che was one of the first revolutionary figures I learned about as a young person, his image on posters and t-shirts was iconic and taught me about the power of images. But it was Che’s story that really moved me, the young doctor turned revolutionary who set out to explore the world and found himself transforming it. His story was inspiring, it helped me see that change is possible in the world we live in, that a person who dedicated themselves to social change could make a difference. It was this energy that led me to design this piece in 2003 when I was just starting to print, I used Alberto Korda’s classic photo of Che which many artists have used. Although I never printed it, I was excited by this simplicity of the image and the bright colors choices I made. Looking back, I think it was an attempt to try something new, all the Che posters I’d seen at the time were red and black. I designed it with bright orange and yellow with Che in bright red, it was a challenge printing it this summer, trying to get the colors just right to achieve the brightness I was looking for. This has become one of my favorite prints of mine, you can check out the little video of the printing process using the vinyl cutter to make our printing stencils.