¡VIVA CHE! CHE LIVES!

RECLAIMING CHE ONE BRUSH STROKE AT A TIME

The Iconic Image That Will Never Be Forgotten

Now as part of my ongoing effort to reclaim Che I have created a new Che Guevara Painted Canvas.

It is 51 years to the day that Che Guevara was murdered. It is 50 years since I created the iconic red and black poster ‘Viva Che! 1968′ as my response to the brutal murder of revolutionary Che Guevara when he was a prisoner of war in Bolivia.

They thought they could murder Che, they thought they could disappear him from history under an airport tarmac, they thought that he would be forgotten.
They were very much mistaken.

How is it so famous?

I wanted my image to spread like wildfire so his memory was kept alive and I immediately announce it was copyright free via the local media and the message was carried across, at first in Ireland, then to London, England, then on to Europe via various revolutionary and student protest groups .
Yep, as I stated at the time, I wanted this image to ‘breed like rabbits’ and proliferate.

Now 50 years later the image has been called ‘The ultimate graphic ever created’ (Alexsandra Mir: Not Everything is Black and White. 2004) and is indeed rated as one of the top iconic 10 images in history, second only to the Mona Lisa (Professor Martin Kemp: From Christ to Coke. 2011).

Viva Che Today

This day last year the Black and Red Viva Che 1968 was put on a postage stamp of my own country, Ireland and when it went on sale there were long queues outside the historic General Post Office, headquarters of the 1916 rebellion against British rule in Ireland. For myself personally this was a great honour and it also roused in me the desire to reclaim this image of mine from what I call the ‘crass commercial usage’ by ruthless capitalist interests, from a huge multi-million cigarette company to massive retail chains, all without my consent, approval or license and illegally pirated or stolen.

In 2010 I re-copyrighted this image, released it as a limited edition art print and then quickly followed this up by making it a FREE hi-res download on my website. Time to play the capitalist thugs at their own game and once more proliferate the image.

What does it mean?

50 Years ago I created this image to help in the fight against repression, to be used as a symbol of protest for the voiceless. Yet, as you know, it is not world famous for this reason. Capitalism took it but to make money they had to remove the meaning, remove the soul and remove the idea of a struggle against the system. In many parts of the world, it’s still used as a symbol of protest, it has a habit of turning up at protests and marches now more than it has for decades. This is the purpose! I want to take it back from those who have no soul and put it on cigarette packs and empty fashionable items. I never gave them permission. They never asked!

This image was created out of passion, out of anger, out of disgust at the murder of El Che. It is a vivid memorial, a tribute to a hero, and an act of defiance. The artwork is an expression of my own self, of my own convictions and beliefs -and is not just a pretty piece of art. It is propaganda, it is AgitProp, it is designed to stand against the powerful and speak for the oppressed, the dispossessed and to put fear in the hearts of the capitalist rich who think they rule this world of ours, drain its resources and destroy its beauty.

A Working Artist

I am still a working artist today and (unfortunately) not financially secure. Artists like myself have no pensions, we simply work till we drop. This new limited edition series of paintings on canvas is for a twofold purpose.
One is to earn a living and to keep going, producing art, drawings and paintings, which I love to do more than anything on this planet.
The other is to start to reclaim this iconic image from the capitalist pigs who have stolen it and to make them pay for this misuse. I can never afford to legally reclaim my image but I can certainly shame them by publicizing their piracy.
Every stroke of a brush on these paintings is a statement of intent, every one is a call to arms, every one is by my own hand only.

This is just the beginning of my campaign to RECLAIM CHE.

Next up will be the famous or infamous ‘Warhol Che’. Yep, it’s a ripoff by the great man and his assistant but… it’s mine.
Hang on to your hats 🙂