McCarthy Press is Ralph Fasanella’s clever indictment of McCarthyism in general and the execution of Ethel and Julius Rosenberg in particular. The artist, an ardent labor supporter and advocate for the common man, has turned the mass media of the 1950s into a potent weapon of communication. The scene is set in several locales, including the legal courts, the U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., and New York City’s Union Square, where massive rallies took place to save the Rosenbergs. References to McCarthy-era blacklisting abound, such as the Hollywood Ten; posters advertising Arthur Miller’s play The Crucible, an allegory of McCarthyism; and headlines on a pyramid of newspapers each blasting the word “Red.” Using the ads and other visual texts of urban environments, Fasanella pleads to “save” the Rosenbergs through neon church signs, bank signage, and other contrivances.

Stacy C. Hollander, "McCarthy Press," exhibition label for Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined. Stacy C. Hollander, curator. New York: American Folk Art Museum, 2012.