My mother always said that if he got on a crowded elevator by the time he reached the fifth floor he knew everyone in the car and would most likely keep in contact over time with at least one of the people he met. You could put him in any situation and in any environment and he would find a way to talk to people.
—Marc Fasanella
I met Ralph at the Newspaper Guild headquarters around the first days of the strikes when all hell broke loose, when the scabs came in from the buses. The Chicago Tribune were the owners of the Daily News and they brought in busloads of scabs; holed them up in hotels in 42 street next to the Daily News building and when the moment was right for them to create an incident, they moved the scabs in to the Brooklyn production facility and ah, violence erupted to say the least.Within a day or two after that we were in the newspaper guild headquarters picking up bundles of The Real News… Read more. —Larry Farrell, Daily News pressman
He’s not primitive and he’s sure as heck not naive. Sometimes people label self-taught artists naive, even self-taught doesn’t do him justice. When asked what he would call himself, he said, “Well, call me a jazz artist. I paint at night while I listen to Miles Davis or John Coltrane.”
—Ronald Carver, Public Domain Project
Share your recollections about Ralph Fasanella—if you knew him—OR if you knew his paintings. His art set the tone in many a workplace, classroom and union office—what did it mean to you? We invite you to share a personal story about the artist and/or about the art. Send your submission to info@laborarts.org. Include a photo of yourself if possible. Submissions may be featured in this online exhibition; all will be archived at the American Folk Art Museum.