Speed of Life

  Gregg Chadwick Riveter 16"x20" oil on linen 2025 On International Worker's Day, I honor the struggles and gains made by laborers since the Industrial Revolution. May Day began as a commemoration of the 1886 Haymarket Tragedy in Chicago. The tragic event has inspired generations of labor leaders, activists, and artists and has been commemorated in monuments, murals, and posters throughout the world, especially in Europe and Latin America. In 1893 the Haymarket Martyrs Monument was erected in a cemetery in the Chicago suburb of Forest Park. I paint in an old hangar at the Santa Monica Airport across the street from Barker Hangar. In these hangars during WWII, a women’s army of aeronautical workers built the Douglas aircraft that helped bring down the fascists across the globe. My painting "Riveter" honors these fierce laborers of the past, present, and future who use their tools of the trade to fight against tyranny and injustice across the globe. Keep the faith...

Gregg Chadwick Barcarole 14"x14" oil on linen 2012

by Gregg Chadwick “Often these sectors of the labor force become invisible—we’re used to them attending our gardens, taking care of our kids, cleaning our homes and they almost become invisible.”       -Lizette Guerra, archivist and librarian at the  UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center   " Happy Hills is my body of work documenting the predominantly hispanic workforce, who work tirelessly behind the scenes to present the beautiful images of the ideal Hollywood Hills homes." - Ramiro Gomez Ramiro Gomez Outside the Beverly Hills Hotel During an Artistic Intervention from a video by Jorge Rivas The artwork of the young Los Angeles based artist Ramiro Gomez reveals the unseen hands and faces of the often underpaid and under appreciated laborers who keep the more affluent areas of the Los Angeles basin manicured and green. Using the simple materials of cardboard and paint, Gomez creates labor portraits of the hispanic workers that work behind the...

by Gregg Chadwick Super Bowl Sunday has grown to become a secular holiday that rivals Thanksgiving in the United States. I just got off the phone with my brother and our New Jersey/New York roots run deep. Sporting events from this past weekend remind me how much I carry Spike Lee's and my Grandpa Chadwick's sporting allegiances with me. Jeremy Lin's astounding play for the New York Knicks basketball squad last night proved to be a harbinger for the New York Giants inspired play today. Tomorrow morning will be a bit sweeter as New Yorkers access their newspapers of choice. For me, memories of late Saturday nights in the Village buying Sunday's New York Times at a corner grocery never fail to bring a smile to my face. As did Clint Eastwood's inspired role in this year's Chrysler ad. I'd recognize that silhouette anywhere. Doesn't look like Carmel's Hog's Breath to me though. I've been in a Noir mood myself with a studio full of new paint...

"Performing in Madison, Wisconsin and seeing 100,000 people in the streets demanding justice inspired me to record an album of union fighting songs. I've been a proud union man for 22 years and my mom was a union public high school teacher, so for me this fight is very personal. Unions are a crucial counterweight to the raw corporate greed that torpedoed our economy, threatens our environment and wants to strip away decades of social progress. From Cairo to Madison, workers are pushing back and tyrants are falling. Here's a soundtrack for our fight." -Tom Morello The full length UNION TOWN EP will be released digitally May 17th with all proceeds going towards pro-union struggles. On February 21st of this year, Tom Morello performed at the Capitol Square in Madison, Wisconsin in protest to an anti-union bill put forward by Governor Scott Walker. Morello explains in his editorial about the experience, “Frostbite and Freedom: Tom Morello on the Battle of Madison...

To Public Service Workers in the State of Wisconsin Dear Sisters and Brothers, On behalf of the 700,000 members of the Polish Trade Union NSZZ “Solidarnosc” (Solidarity) I wish to express our solidarity and support for your struggle against the recent assault on trade unions and trade union rights unleashed by Governor Scott Walker. We are witnessing yet another attempt of transferring the costs of the economic crisis and of the failed financial policies to working people and their families. As much as some adjustments are necessary, we can not and must not agree that the austerity measures are synonymous with union-busting practices, the elimination of bargaining rights and the reduction of social benefits and wages. Dear friends, please rest assured that our thoughts are with you during your protest, as we truly do hope that your just fight for decent working and living conditions, for the workers’ rights will be successful. Your victory is our victory as well. In Solidarity, Piotr D...

Wisconsin Budget Repair Bill Protest from Matt Wisniewski on Vimeo . Wisconsin Protests Set to Arcade Fire's Song "Rebellion" This one is for my cousin Anne Johnson who has been at the Capitol building in Madison each day this week. Keep the faith. As Wisconsin goes, so goes the country.