Artists for Obama

When is the last time you’ve seen so many different kinds of people galvanizing behind one U.S. politician? Not in my lifetime anyway. As Texas and Ohio grow near and Obama’s campaign contributions have grown to almost one -million individual donors, its easy to see how people are becoming inspired. Take for instance, the Date Farmers.

The Date Farmers duo includes Carlos Ramirez and Armando Lerma who originally hail from California’s Coachella Valley. They named themselves after learning that both their fathers farmed dates. Reminiscent of Mexican Revolutionary posters a la Pancho Villa, Ramirez and Lerma explore the essential roots of the Southwest and California’s past and present culture. Their art depicts Mexican-American religious icons, and their style resembles prison art, while their lettering is strong in the low rider tradition of bold sign painting. The Date Farmers collage everything from found letters, bottle caps, glitter, and even an occasional slice of rattlesnake skin. American pop elements such as their version of Coca Cola logos, Mickey Mouse, Bat Man, the Hulk, MasterCard sign, or a Playboy logo are integrated or painted into their work to illustrate the observance of American culture from afar.

California based Upper Playground has asked the Date Farmers to create a campaign poster to be mass-distributed on offset posters throughout Texas prior to the primary in that state. Upper Playground is offering the same image as a limited-edition screen print of the Date Farmers’ Obama 2008 campaign poster through their website. There will only be 300 limited-edition copies of the poster signed and numbered by the artists available (price is $200 each). All proceeds from the sales of the Date Farmers’ Obama 2008 screen print will go directly to creating more campaign posters and stickers by other artists in support of Obama’s bid for President.