Artwork Description
Police Shooting Black Silkscreen Print by Cleon Peterson on Hand Deckled 290gsm Coventry Rag Fine Art Paper Limited Edition Artwork.
2015 Signed & Numbered Cleon Peterson Limited Edition of 150 Artwork Size 14x18 Silkscreen Print.
Cleon Peterson's 2015 Silkscreen Print “Police Shooting Black” – A Stark Voice in Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork
Cleon Peterson’s 2015 limited edition silkscreen print titled Police Shooting Black is a powerful example of politically charged Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork that holds nothing back. Printed on hand-deckled 290gsm Coventry Rag fine art paper, this 14 x 18 inch piece was released in a signed and numbered edition of 150. The print is rendered in stark black silhouette, showing a faceless police officer mid-strike over a defenseless figure on the ground. Peterson employs a style that is instantly recognizable—clean, aggressive, and intentionally stripped of detail to focus entirely on the narrative of power, submission, and societal conflict. It is more than a commentary. It is a visual confrontation.
Cleon Peterson: American Artist With a Vision Rooted in Violence and Power Dynamics
Cleon Peterson was born in 1973 in the United States and continues to create work that deeply engages with themes of chaos, institutional abuse, and systemic violence. A former street artist who has also worked in illustration and fashion, Peterson often centers his practice around the representation of violent struggle. His works are filled with archetypal figures that reenact the brutal power plays of modern society. Police Shooting Black stands out in his body of work not only for its limited edition fine art format but for its focused depiction of racialized police violence. It is not an ambiguous image. The figures speak with immediacy, channeling real-world incidents into high-contrast allegory. The facelessness of both the oppressor and the oppressed creates a disturbing universality, implicating systems rather than individuals.
The Visual Economy of Violence in Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork
This print carries forward the street-level urgency found in graffiti while leveraging the formal control of screenprinting and gallery presentation. Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork often borrows visual language from commercial signage, propaganda, and rebellion, and Peterson’s work is no exception. The figures are iconographic, each line intentional, each silhouette loaded with symbolic weight. Peterson reduces the image to its emotional and psychological core, amplifying the sense of dehumanization and systemic brutality. The use of black-and-white further enforces the emotional starkness while refusing to distract with color. Every inch of the composition is confrontational and calculated to provoke response, conversation, and discomfort.
Coventry Rag Paper and Silkscreen Technique as Mediums of Resistance
The use of 290gsm Coventry Rag paper—known for its archival quality and textured surface—adds gravity and permanence to what might otherwise feel like a transitory protest image. Silkscreen printing, traditionally used in mass production, is elevated here as a fine art method, offering precision and boldness while still invoking its underground and street origins. Peterson’s choice of material and medium serves to highlight the duality in Street Pop Art & Graffiti Artwork: existing between gallery walls and political walls, between collectability and dissent. Each print is hand-deckled, giving it an edge—literally and figuratively—that speaks to the raw emotion and crafted message embedded in the work. Would you like write-ups for any of Peterson’s other prints or projects?
