Shepard Fairey
- Profile:
- Shepard Fairey’s “Obey Giant? visual propaganda has seeped into urban consciousness through its presence alone—in over one million places worldwide. It all started in 1989 with a whimsical sticker featuring a mug shot of Andre the Giant stuck to every imaginable surface in Providence, Rhode Island, as an experiment in attracting attention. Fairey’s ideas have sparked an entire new movement in the art community, taking it from galleries to the street, and often back into galleries and even museums. Shepard has shown his work in solo gallery exhibitions all over the world, and has permanent collections on display in numerous museums. He has lectured at numerous art conferences and colleges, including his alma mater, the Rhode Island School of Design. In 2003, he created his own firm, Studio Number One, aimed at pushing the boundaries in the advertising world through highly creative branding and marketing campaigns.
Articles by Shepard Fairey:
Faile
This past June, the Brooklyn-based street art collective Faile rented a warehouse in New York City for a four-day art show. The exhibition, called “Nothing Lasts Forever,” was completely bought-out. Total sales exceeded $1 million. This is not unprecedented for street artists— paintings at Banksy’s Los Angeles warehouse show in 2006 reportedly sold at up [...]
NECK FACE
The answering machine has become a fully integrated part of our lives in a way that most modern technological advances have failed to achieve. We rely on these machines (and their cousin, voicemail) to conduct business, reach loved ones, and screen our calls when people we date get too clingy.
Malcolm McLaren
Who is Malcolm McLaren? The white, English eccentric who formed the Sex Pistols? The art -school anarchist who lost his virginity to fashion designer Vivienne Westwood, married her, and opened a punk boutique in London where “nothing was for sale”? The cultural alchemist who was asked to “re-brand Poland”?
SPACE INVADER
The classic arcade game Space Invaders was named as such because it featured aliens from outer space invading Earth. Space Invader chose his name because he very literally invades space—public space, to be more specific. For close to 10 years, Space Invader has been infiltrating cities and subtly altering their landscapes.
Jim Houser
When Dr. Rorschach created his eponymous inkblots, I doubt he ever thought of them as works of art or considered him self an Impressionist. Still, he managed to build a tool that captured in its purpose what artists had already discovered
BANKSY
One of the most inappropriate nicknames of all time, at least in my opinion, belonged to Ronald Reagan: “The Great Communicator,” who we’ve come to learn did a pretty shitty job of communicating the government’s problems and indiscretions. A nickname like that deserves a more righteous, honest owner—someone like BANKSY.