Sabo Tabby

A mentor of mine recently commented, after my ICE cube painting, that I should make more activist art. That it would sell well and reflect my values. I'm all in for that. And I had an idea. It was the beginning of April 2026, and I had May Day on my mind. The art studio I work at was having an event on May 1st, and I thought I could make something specifically for May Day. I chose the Sabo Tabby, a symbol of the Industrial Workers of the World, an organization that has fought for workers' rights for 120 years. I wanted to make the Tabby my own, so I gave them glowing eyes and much more detail than the logo. The three big stars are part of another IWW logo, and the broken chain represents workers having nothing to lose but their chains. I chose many revolutionary words to follow the circle that is traditionally around the cat. It feels a little bit of a hodge-podge, but the dashes and small stars help pull it all together.

Tragedy struck when I went to varnish this piece. I hadn't waited a full week from spraying with acrylic sealer before painting on the varnish, and the black Posca smeared in many places. I tried my best to clean it up, but there are still unmistakable smears through some of the words and dashes. Swiping the varnish from the red background to the white stars and gray chains also seems to have yellowed the bright white of those elements. The color looks intentional in the final product, but it's not what I wanted. The second image is a photo of the piece before any sealing, and it represents the original vision. The first image is the touched-up scan of the varnished canvas, and is what I used to make prints. I wanted to include both images to be honest about my work while also providing a high-quality version of the painting.

Painted in 2026 with acrylic paint and acrylic marker on 11x14" stretched canvas.