Richard Lees is a printmaker, teacher and political activist from Hull, England. He began producing gig posters for Rock Against Racism in 1979, drawing on the revolutionary imagery of Soviet Constructivists , German Expressionists and Atelier Populaire for his designs; flyposted all over Hull, the screen-prints provided a sustained street art presence in the city for over three years. Returning to printmaking in 2015, exhibitions of Richard’s work have toured the UK to galleries in London, Manchester, Edinburgh and Yorkshire. A retrospective of his political posters for Rock Against Racism was held earlier this year at Warner Brothers Music in Kensington, London, supporting Love Music Hate Racism’s Campaign, The Beautiful Resistance, and marking the 40th anniversary of his first Agit-Prop design.
Last year Richard exhibited No More Separation, a Palestine Lino Print narrative at the HIP Gallery in Hull, and has developed work on a collaborative project commemorating Herman Melville’s bicentennial as a print exhibition and a mural. This year he has published images and articles in The Critical Fish and Women’s Studies An Interdisciplinary Journal. Richard is Chair of The Hull Print Collective, of The Creative and Cultural Company (a not-for-profit community arts group) and of Hull and East Yorkshire Stand Up To Racism.