In 1980 Seth Tobocman was one of the founding editors of the political comic book World War 3 Illustrated. This magazine challenged the politics and morals of the Reagan-Bush era. He painted stencils, pasted posters, and installed other forms of guerilla art onto the streets of New York’s Lower East Side in that period. His illustrations have appeared in the New York Times and many other magazines. Tobocman is the Author/Illustrator of five graphic books: YOU DON’T HAVE TO FUCK PEOPLE OVER TO SURVIVE; WAR IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD; PORTRAITS OF ISRAELIS AND PALESTINIANS; DISASTER AND RESISTANCE; and UNDERSTANDING THE CRASH He has had a one-man show at ABCNORIO and a two-man show at EXIT ART gallery. He has been in group shows at the Museum of Modern Art and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. His work for World War 3 Illustrated is currently on display in the Museum of Modern Art.
He currently teaches at the School of Visual Arts in the department of cartooning and illustration. His images have been used in posters, pamphlets, murals graffiti, and tattoos by peoples movements around the world, from the African National Congress in South Africa to Squatters on New York’s Lower East Side. In the first weeks of Occupy Wall Street Tobocman could often be found painting signs in Zuccotti Park.