Protest Signs From 1992 Special Edition

Protest Signs From 1992 is a catalogue of the silkscreened signs Mark Flood made in Houston for the demonstrations against the 1992 Republican National Convention, here in the special edition of 50 copies.

Karma, New York, published it in 2020 as a 56-page hardcover for Flood’s first exhibition at the gallery, held January 11 to February 23, 2020. It carries texts by Bob Nickas and Clark Flood. Clark Flood’s text, excerpted on Karma’s site, lists the stencilled slogans, among them VOTE FOR LAW AND ORDER, BUSH IS GOD, FREE THE RICH and BE A NARC. They were printed with images of Bush, Nixon, Schwarzenegger and the Rodney King beating, and he calls the signs sarcastic and oblique. Karma lists the special edition as limited to 50, each with a unique screenprint, and names the prints by variants such as Iridescent Flag and Red and Black Flag.

Flood was born in Houston in 1957 and works there. His work grew out of the local punk scene, where he designed concert flyers and performed in the band Culturcide, and he later worked as a museum assistant at the Menil Collection. He is known for all-caps slogans such as “ANOTHER PAINTING” and “ART FAIR FEVER!”