Up Against the Wall opens at the Rubin Center in El Paso

I see that there is a new exhibition in El Paso at the Rubin Center focusing on poster artists called Up Against the Wall. I have to commend the Rubin Center for always curating fantastic engaging exhibitions, each different, and contemporary. In a context of poster work, one would expect from most institutions the easy sell of having some Sheppard Fairey posters on the wall, with a few others, yet the Rubin Center succeeds in tying the democratic form of poster art to the borderland area that they serve. It's a great thing to see a museum so well tied to contemporary are while staying true to the southwestern culture which is so unique in the U.S.

The penny broadsides of Mexican graphic designer Jose Guadalupe Posada addressed the political and social issues of his day using imagery that was accessible literate and illiterate alike. His work was widely believed to have increased public support for the ideals that would spark the Mexican Revolution. Building on that history, this exhibition brings an international and contemporary framework to the use of design as social protest. This bold and colorful display of 100 posters from a group of 13 high-profile graphic designers highlights the power of design to engage people in creative thinking about world problems. If you can get down to there, this would be a show worth checking out.