The Phantom Street Artist - MAKE AMERIKA JACK'D AGAIN


October 9–November 10, 2017
University Art Gallery
Live performance art by Joey Krebs (aka the Phantom Street Artist) at 4 pm on November 9 at the University Art Gallery for the Social Justice in the Central Valley Conference.

The Phantom Street Artist will also be participating in the panel discussion Creative Arts and Social Justice with Yosimar Reyes from 11:00 am–12:15 pm in the South Dining Hall on Thursday, November 9.

The gallery is located in the Theatre Building (Bldg 7): View Campus Map
Parking Lot 2 and 3 will be reserved for attendees of the Social Justice conference to park free of charge during the Social Justice Conference on November 9.

Photo of Joey Krebs (aka the Phantom Street Artist) painting a large-scale silhouette of a person

The Phantom Street Artist is internationally-recognized for designing iconic album cover art for Rage Against the Machine and engaging in scathing critiques of the art world establishment. He utilizes graffiti, installation, and performance art to highlight what he claims is our culture's rampant greed, corruption, and plagiarism and has called out such notable figures as Keith Haring, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, and Museum of Contemporary Art Director Jeffrey Deitch. MAKE AMERIKA JACK’D AGAIN features footage of the Phantom's past performances and a group of all-new installation pieces that tackle current political issues. The Phantom Street Artist’s exhibition MAKE AMERIKA JACK’D AGAIN will be featured at the University Art Gallery from October 9 to November 10 with a live performance art piece on November 9 at 4 pm as part of the Social Justice Conference.

 

Artist Statement

Today, Racism continues to be a part of our political and cultural horizon through its resiliency, its duplicitous, adaptable and acceptable form, so it is no surprise that Amerika has returned to its darkest period of civil rights activism.

History shares that the greatest, most feared terrorist organization in America’s history actually began with ridiculing social reality through self- directed skits and jokes and its costumes. It was historian Elaine Frantz Parsons who has faithfully illustrated my expressive premise through her brilliant manuscript as the author of Ku-Klux: The Birth of the Klan During Reconstruction, which critically re-traces the organization's first steps and defines its practices as its source. Frantz states, “During a few short years from the mid-1860s to the early 1870s, the Klan went from an inside joke among a gang of a friends to a secret empire rumored to control our entire country.”

Today its Fascist organization through its foundational beliefs infiltrates every conceivable hegemonic organization from the fowl mouth President at our Alt Right House, to the secretive transgressions of our greedy Contemporary culture, to the exploitation of Professional Athletes by NFL owners acting as Modern day plantation owners. Racism and its practices rears its ugly head again and again throughout history with its many forms of intimidation, assaults and murders. Historians reveal that the significance of the Reconstruction Klan intentionally committed acts of terrorism with intent and purpose, but its violence never stopped existing in the pages of yesterday’s past as its practice exist today through its primary method which first began as a killing joke.

With my relentless commitment to critique and social justice through a reified critique and expression which inspires my discourse and its exhibition of inquiry on Nov. 9th, 2017 appropriately titled, MAKE AMERIKA JACK’D AGAIN.

—The Phantom Street Artist

 

Updated: May 30, 2023