Free Art Takes its Toll on Art Activist and Issue of Freedom of Speech

In Chicago, a homeless panhandler begging for money in a public space is not committing a crime. A homeless artist who offers to sketch for you in a public place for money is committing a crime, according to the current law.

The peddlers license and Chicago’s Park District policies that prevent artists from selling their art in public have destroyed street art culture in Chicago, according to Chris Drew, Executive Director of Uptown Multi Cultural Art Center. “Artists have more opportunities to survive by their art in traditionally repressive Moscow than we have in Chicago where the First Amendment is supposed to protect our speech right to survive by selling our art in public. Not one free open-air arts market exists in Chicago where artists can sell their work. None – zero – zilch!” says Drew. In Chicago, since 1994, street artists are required to get a peddler’s license, and are prohibited from selling their art “downtown.”

On Tuesday, Dec. 21 at noon, under the “L” train at State and Lake, Drew and some volunteers for the Uptown Multi-Cultural Art Center (UM-CAC) will give free art away as part of the Art Patch Project, and risk arrest in their effort to reclaim some downtown territory in the name of free speech.

Drew contends that art is a form of free speech, and the small art patches he gives away or sells on the streets or through his website, Art-Teez, combine powerful statements expressed as art.

Before this law was enacted, artists were free to sell street art in any public place, and at many public demonstrations artists joined demonstrators to sell posters, T-shirts, and other wares, typically sporting political messages and slogans. What Drew is protesting in particular, is the way the law is enforced downtown. Corporations and private business owners can call the police to remove people who are exercising their First Amendment rights from their premises in Chicago’s downtown and Loop, if the protesters are artists. Beggars can beg, but an artist with a political message needs to buy a license to be present in these downtown public spaces.

Drew is attempting to get people to think about this through his Art Patch Project. Artists are invited to submit art to be printed on cloth by volunteers, who then give away the art patches to educate citizens. The art patches have images and messages about freedom of expression and other kinds of freedom.

The message the artists are trying to get out to the public these days is that the current laws about selling and giving away art in public are unfair. Drew says that “unconstitutional laws and policies in Chicago discriminate against artists who try to survive by selling art in public and to create enjoyable art scenes which enable the public to meet artists presently hidden in their midst.”

What may seem like much ado about nothing is being taken very seriously by Anita Alvarez, Cook County State’s Attorney. The State of Illinois is prosecuting Drew, who was initially arrested for selling art patches for $1 on State Street, but is being prosecuted now for making an audio-recording of his own arrest at the time.

In Chicago, it is illegal for the public to record the police in action, though in 47 other states this is legal. A policeman-turned-legislator got this law passed in 1994, according to Drew. The police can record the public, but if the public wants its own record of events, that is called eavesdropping. Rodney King and his attorneys might have an interesting view of that law.

Drew is getting some help. The ACLU is suing Cook County State’s Attorney in federal court for prosecuting Drew and others on wiretapping charges for audio-recording police in public. The ACLU is contending that it is legal to monitor police in public. Chris Drew faces to 15 years in prison because of this case, which may seem out of proportion with the initial violation of selling art for $1. Clearly, the public right to monitor public behavior of the police is coming into play in the case.

The Art Patch event on Dec. 21 will be a celebration of the winter solstice. It marks a slow rebirth when the sun begins to climb back toward us, the days begin to lengthen again and results eventually in the warmth of summer. The giving away of art is intended to gradually increase the acceptability of artists on Chicago’s streets and the rebirth of street art culture in Chicago.

The Art Patch Project is ongoing and will continue to add artists and designs until artists have attained their full First Amendment right to survive by selling art in public. The art-patches will be given away at public events and exhibited in a series of traveling exhibits planned for years to come. This long range project is designed to educate the public about First Amendment rights and our fight for expressive freedom in Chicago.

The goal of the Art Patch Project is to increase support for “common sense laws to make Chicago more friendly to artists through allowing artists to survive by selling art in public and to create enjoyable art scenes which enable the public to meet artists presently hidden in their midst,” according to Drew.

Drew writes that “During these difficult economic times it is important for cities to help their citizens survive and create their own jobs by increasing the freedom to use public space for legitimate public purposes. Allowing speech vendors their First Amendment rights makes great economic sense. The artist who makes a dollar spends a dollar. The arts encourage greater enjoyment from life increasing the attractiveness of a city. Tourists like to meet a city’s artists and want to discover its local character. Those who would ban artists from public spaces have a narrow vision of the City and do not demonstrate a concern for free-speech. Art has an important role to play in our society. Chicago can’t continue to force artists to be marginalized.” Come out on the solstice, Dec. 21st and see and judge for yourself.”

Here is contact information for Chris Drew
773/678-7545
773/561-7676
773/973-1863
umcac@art-teez.org
http://www.art-teez.org/free-speech.htm
http://www.c-drew.com/