Poetry Written in Gasoline: Black Mask and Up Against the Wall Motherfucker

Black Mask/Up Against the Wall Motherfucker existed from 1966 to 1969 in New York, moving from abstract painting and intermedia environments to street posters and increasingly militant political happenings. They were definitive, influential activist-art groups, often cited as a key precedent for contemporary socially engaged art. Additionally, they represent a crucial but neglected moment in the contested legacy of the radical avant-garde. Their history has been previously available only in brief, mythologizing accounts, but this essay draws on interviews and extensive cross-archival research to present the first thorough historical account of their political art practices.