Free Speech Artists' Movement(TM)
Discussion Between C Drew, Tony Fitzpatrick and Dmitry Samarov Over Artists' Rights
Contact: Chris Drew * 773/561-7676 * umcac@art-teez.org
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Tony Fitzpatrick & Dmitry Samarov podcast
E-mail discussion Tony, Dmitry and C Drew
From Tony Fitzpatrick
11/9/10 3:48pm
I appreciate your commitment-- but what does getting busted-- in fact, going out of your way to-- gain other artists?-- you don't like having to pay for a peddlers license? Welcome to the big-world -- in chicago you have to have a permit-- does it suck ?-- yeah -- but that is the way it is.
If you have a peddlers permit-- nobody gives a fuck what you sell -- not exactly a 1st amendment issue-- and don't ever liken yourself to Rosa Parks again-- that is a way different moral imperative, pal.
T.
Chris Drew
11/9/10 5:54pm
Response to Tony Fitzpatrick
Did you read the full letter. If you did you would have an idea what the First Amendment issues are and be able to answer with a more intelligent response.
Rosa Parks and I both practice civil disobedience. That is the most logical comparison.
I am looking for sincere debate but you give me mookish responses. I give you respect and you give back disrespect. Why?
Sincerely,
Chris Drew
From Dmitry Samarov
11/9/10 6:04pm
Apparently "open letter" doesn't extend to responses, I tried to leave the following comment on your blog, but apparently one needs to be part of your cabal of mediocrity to be allowed to speak...
Mr.Drew,
I'm sorry your feathers were ruffled by what I (and Tony, though he doesn't need me to speak for him) said on Nick's show. I don't believe either of us questioned your right to do what you like on the streets of our city. In fact, I went out of my way to insist that you should not only be able to express yourself, but also be paid for it (provided anyone would want to pay you, of course.) My only criticisms of your action were that a.) I doubted that the tape recorder was left on accidentally, and b.) that I couldn't find much worthwhile art to defend on your site. The latter point, of course, is a value judgment but if you're willing to get arrested for your beliefs, then someone not caring for your work ought to just roll off your back.
But it didn't! Instead, you publish this long-winded, pedantic defense. As stated above, I will defend your right to make lousy art on any street corner of your choosing, but please don't compare yourself to Rosa Parks--making shitty prints is nothing like fighting for one's right to basic human rights.
And for god's sake, grow a thicker skin!
Dmitry Samarov
Chris Drew
11/9/10 6:23
Response to Dmitry Samarov
Dmitry,
I have a very thick skin. You can trash my art all day long and I will publish your critique. I will soon publish this letter as well. My long response was to explain our positions to you. You have yet to respond directly to the issues. The issue is not my art. It is not my art you are being asked to take a stand on.
Whether the tape recorder was on or off is irrelivant to anyone but the State's Attorney who is trying to shut up my critique of the City's peddler's license. From your last letter I can only assume that you support our stance on the peddlers license but you hate my guts for some reason and dislike my art. Fine.
I am very much like Rosa Parks. We both were arrested defending citizen's rights.
Sincerely,
C Drew
From Tony Fitzpatrick
11/9/10 6:17
Okay Knuckle-Head....I'll say this in even plainer English-- I think your behavior is about getting attention and attempting to be a Martyr-- In fact you are the only guy I've ever heard of getting arrested for selling your art on the street-- your act of 'civil disobedience' is a popcorn-fart next to the very real acts of heroism of Rosa Parks and other civil rights activists who moved our culture forward-- I said on the show -- you have every right to sell your coasters on the street-- and in the city -- if you have a permit -- you can sell whatever you want-- so....Xerox this to your brain, Snapper-Head-- your not being censored -- nor are your 1st amendment rights being fucked with -- you just need a permit. Now fuck off and have a nice day
Tony
Chris Drew
11/9/10 7:26pm
Response to Tony Fitzpatrick
Tony,
"... you have every right to sell your coasters on the street-- and in the city -- if you have a permit -- you can sell whatever you want-- so....Xerox this to your brain, Snapper-Head-- your not being censored -- nor are your 1st amendment rights being fucked with..."
OK "every right" actually you are avoiding the issue of the First Amendment by shouting and cursing. I quoted you the case law of the First Amendment to show I have had my rights violated. Read my letter on my blog 11/9/10. That is why it is so long. I had to spell it out to you. Artists are being censored wholesale in Chicago. Moscow gives its artists more rights than Chicago and Russia has no First Amendment.
Moscow Treats its artists better than Chicago. There is not one free open-air art market in Chicago.
Dmitry Samarov
11/9/10 7:01pm
Pal, if I hated you you'd sure as hell know it, the point is that neither of us were questioning your rights. You published your "Open Letter" which just restated all your previous positions because you didn't like being criticized. Finally, you still don't get it about Rosa Parks: there's a big difference between a mountain and a molehill...
From Dmitry Samarov
11/9/10 7:17pm
On 11/9/2010 7:17 PM, Dmitry Samarov wrote:
No issues to address, because there's no argument here. Only hurt feelings apparently...
Chris Drew
11/9/10 7:30pm
Response to Dmitry Samarov
I appreciate this exchange. My feelings are not hurt. I have posted all your comments and links to your WGN podcast and your websites giving you maximum exposure without concern for the names you have called me because I have a very thick skin. Again thanks. The public will come to their own conclusions.
From Dmitry Samarov
11/9/10 7:43pm
Mr. Drew,
You made a conscious decision to make a political stand by getting arrested intentionally. Your comparing your fight with Civil Rights leaders are grandiose at the least, if not outright offensive. Now you want to compare Chicago with Moscow. Let me tell you Mr.Drew, I'm from Moscow, and if you squawked at the powers that be there, you'd have been "disappeared" rather than being allowed to keep shouting from your soapbox. Still wanna sell something at their open market?
Dmitry Samarov
Chris Drew
11/9/10 8:12pm
Response to Dmitry Samarov
Mr. Samarov,
Thank you for some respect and addressing the issue. I know you were born in Russia and came to this country at the age of 8. There have been changes in that nation since that time but as you suggest - it is not known for its freedom. So why in our country which is supposed to be known for our freedom and which has a First Amendment do we not have at least one open-air market opportunity for artists to sell their art in when a city in a nation like Russia does? Thank you for helping me to make my point!
Sincerely,
C Drew
From Tony Fitzpatrick
11/9/10 9:51
The conclusion the public will most likely reach is that you are an attention-seeking drool-case, who thinks his little dust-up with the cops is like the egregious injustices inflicted upon those who campaigned for civil rights.-- get your head out of your ass Dip-shit-- One thing is NOT like the other and for you to say it is smacks of a delusional sense of self-importance.
T.
Chris Drew
11/9/10 10:21pm
Response to Tony Fitzpatrick
Tony,
I actually have a lot of faith in the public. That's why I want artists to be able to access the public, in public, by selling art in the parks and on the sidewalks of the City without a permit, as is our First Amendment right. You are correct. I am a humble little screen-printing street artist. I am not a national hero or an artist in an ivory tower or a powerful politician or a man with much money. I have worked most of my life for no pay. The powers that be don't think I am worthy of pay. They think like you. So I give myself away. Most people think I will be squashed like a bug by the powers that run Chicago and the State of Illinois. Maybe I will be rubbed into the pavement by the big foot of someone important like Anita Alvarez. Time will tell. Seems from your response you think that would be a fitting outcome to my life.
I am waiting for you to give me one more reason why the citizens of Illinois should not have the right to audio-record police in public while they are on duty. You said on the radio you could think of multiple reasons why that should be illegal but you gave only one weak one. You said it would give away the identity of undercover officers. I said it is already legal to video officers in public and if that doesn't make it possible to discover who they are then an audio recording will not change anything. Why? Give me one more reason why we should not have the same right people have in 47 other states of our nation?
Sincerely,
C Drew
From Tony Fitzpatrick
11/9/10 9:51
I so don't care about this-- you went out of your way to harass the cops-- they harassed you back-- I don't know whether it is legal or not in 47 other states -- I'm beginning to think the 'crusader-artist' act is a subterfuge for you to paint yourself as a victim of police wrong-doing-- either way -- I don't give a fuck -- If this happened to someone else -- I probably would-- but you manufactured this drama for your own aggrandizement --so I don't care-- because judging by this tiresome e-mail exchange-- you are a career pain in the ass.....
T.
Chris Drew
11/9/10 10:46pm
Response to Tony Fitzpatrick
I understand. You have no intelligent reason to back up your statements on the radio and you have no more to say. I agree with you that his conversation is going no where.
Good Bye
C Drew
From Dmitry Samarov
11/10/10 2:18am
Mr. Drew,
I'll give you this: you have an ability to twist other people's words to your own advantage. I appreciate that you're passionate about your cause, but to list a city from a country run by a dictatorship favorably to your own because they have people selling art on the street is a serious distortion of the bigger picture.
After all this hot air has been expended, I still don't see why you wrote that "Open Letter" of yours aside, perhaps, for drumming up publicity. In this way, I suppose I've aided your cause. People I don't know are writing to chide me for picking on the little guy battling the big bad system. If they bothered to read through this whole farce of an exchange, they'd know that that was never my beef, but subtlety and shades of gray are often sacrificed in the service of propaganda. And that, my friend, is what you're selling. For this day I've helped you pamphleteer, but I'm about done...
I wish you the best.
Dmitry Samarov
Chris Drew
11/10/10 10:08am
Response to Dmitry Samarov
Mr. Samarov,
I am done with you also. You still miss the point. I don't want to sell my art in Moscow even though in hard economic times an artist in Moscow can sell his art in an open-air market. Here in Chicago police will run you off the street and out of the park for selling a portrait on a paper plate. Hard as times are now in America for everyone, we can't even make a survival living selling our art in public in Chicago.
Twist your words?! Laugh...my job is to untwist your words and their twisted logic. I speak out about civil rights issues for artists and because of that I must also speak out about the civil right to gather evidence by audio-recording police in public. But you and your partner call me crazy and more. Let the public decide who is twisted. I give you more credit than your over rated friend. I gave you both respect and received none back. I fight for the artists on the street. You two fight for yourselves but you slander me.
Do you think it is right that a homeless person can beg a dollar from you in the Loop based on his First Amendment right but a homeless artist can not sell you a portrait of yourself for a dollar because that is a criminal act? Do you think it is right that a policeman can lie in court and if you bring audio evidence to protect yourself you are a first class felon? Do you call either of these freedom? That is twisted but not apparently to you. Just something to think about if you are a thinking person.
This is the last thing I will publish of either of your comments. You have spoken for yourselves. Let the public decide. I am an artist and an artist organizer - for well over 20 years. I am going out on the street and talk to the artists out there. I will not talk about either of you again. You are not truth seekers. You are bar room brawlers who shout and threaten but never face the issues with intelligence. The First Amendment is our shield. You should study it. It is the foundation of our freedom in America.
If struggling artists are writing you that should make you think twice about all this.
Sincerely,
C Drew