Wally Hedrick (1928-2003) was at the center of the San Francisco Beat Movement of the '50s. The creator of a powerful series of all-black paintings -- a protest against the Vietnam War -- Hedrick says he considers himself more a politician than an artist.

Although Hedrick is genial in person, his work is confrontational. The di Rosa Preserve has three of his pieces; he has also exhibited at the New York Museum of Modern Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Oakland Museum and the Los Angeles County Museum of Modern Art.

In the following interview, Hedrick talks in his Bodega Bay studio about growing up in Los Angeles, his stint at the San Francisco Art Institute, his marriage to artist Jay DeFeo and his own views on art and the Art Establishment.