Untitled [San Miguel de Allende, Mexico]

Rick Barton was a Beat-era artist who was active in the San Francisco Bay area in the 1950s and '60s. He was an autodidact with knowledge of a wide variety of artistic styles, many of which he synthesized into his unique manner of line drawing. Although he remained largely obscure, he was well-known to a coterie peers, some of whom he trained as line painters. Among his students was David Nelson, with whom he collaborated on this linoleum block print. Nelson began the print in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, which was a bohemian outpost in the 1960s. The central figure is a local man in a homemade wheelchair. Nelson says he was initially unhappy with the block, even using it as a cutting board. He and Barton completed it together in Mexico and sold the prints for $2 apiece. The format of the print - a central figure surrounded by vignettes - resembles the prints that comprise Barton's San Francisco Churches (1959). The vignettes include portraits of Barton and Nelson and images from Mesoamerican temples at Teotihuacan.
Ed. 83/103.