nov 2016 nยบ500
street art mag
special edition: A LOOK AT THE WORK OF SHEPARD FAIREY
“How to go from artsy prankster to worldwide cultural phenomenon (without losing the rebellious spirit that started it all)”
In 1989 the first “Andre the Giant has a posse” sticker was created and the OBEY GIANT project was born.Twenty years later,Shepard Fairey, the man behind the campaign, is having his first solo museum exhibition at the ICA Boston. Within that time,
Fairey has gone from artsy prankster and skateboarders’ underground hero to worldwide cultural phenomenon for his murals, fine art prints, and street art poster campaigns—and yes, all without losing his artistic integrity
Like many other American teenagers in the 1980s, Fairey was attracted to countercultures,including skateboarding and punk rock— and their stickers.For Fairey, stickers located throughout his hometown of Charleston,South Carolina, were evidence of likeminded individuals.He started making his own hand-drawn punk stickers, as well as paper-cut stencils of skate and band logos.
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CON TENT DO IT YOURSELF FEED THE PEOPLE
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SUBVERT THE SYSTEM
BRAND YOURSELF
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KEEP IT REAL
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As a college student at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1988, Fairey instructed a friend in making a paper cut stencil using a random image of Andre the Giant, a popular figure in the World Wrestling Federation. The wrestler’s face, paired with the phrase “Andre the Giant has a posse,” was deliberately created for its cool absurdity. An inside joke between two art students quickly turned into an international c a m p a i g n . From 1989 to 1996 Fairey produced over a million handprinted and cut stickers. He first used standard 8.5 x 11inch sticker paper, ran it through the copier, and then cut it with scissors or a paper cutter. He later screen-printed vinyl stickers for their resilient material and affordability. He sent proof sheets to friends across the country for further distribution. Andre’s posse spread like an epidemic thanks to this grassroots distribution.
main page
DO IT YOURSELF
As a college student at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1988, Fairey instructed a friend in making a paper cut stencil using a random image of Andre the Giant, a popular figure in the World Wrestling Federation. The wrestler’s face, paired with the phrase “Andre the Giant has a posse,” was deliberately created for its cool absurdity. An inside joke between two art students quickly turned into an international c a m p a i g n . From 1989 to 1996 Fairey produced over a million handprinted and cut stickers. He first used standard 8.5 x 11inch sticker paper, ran it through the copier, and then cut it with scissors or a paper cutter. He later screen-printed vinyl stickers for their resilient material and affordability. He sent proof sheets to friends across the country for further distribution. Andre’s posse spread like an epidemic thanks to this grassroots distribution.
Contemporary trends of DIY would not exist without the work of graphic artists such as Jamie Reid—graphic designer for the British punk band the Sex Pistols—or the modern day photocopier. A combination of corporate equipment and a new graphic style enabled 1970s punk rock bands to create a readily available and iconic identity with an antiauthority flair.
main page
DO IT YOURSELF
As a college student at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1988, Fairey instructed a friend in making a paper cut stencil using a random image of Andre the Giant, a popular figure in the World Wrestling Federation. The wrestler’s face, paired with the phrase “Andre the Giant has a posse,” was deliberately created for its cool absurdity. An inside joke between two art students quickly turned into an international c a m p a i g n . From 1989 to 1996 Fairey produced over a million handprinted and cut stickers. He first used standard 8.5 x 11inch sticker paper, ran it through the copier, and then cut it with scissors or a paper cutter. He later screen-printed vinyl stickers for their resilient material and affordability. He sent proof sheets to friends across the country for further distribution. Andre’s posse spread like an epidemic thanks to this grassroots distribution.
It is common for advertising corporations to adopt guerrilla marketing. First coined in 1984 by author Jay Conrad Levinson, the term refers to advertising which uses unconventional strategies, relying on low budgets and loads of energy and imagination, while adopting youth and underground culture to target customers in their own language.
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DO IT YOURSELF
FEED THE In 1995 Fairey adapted the semi-realistic image of Andre the Giant to the current stylized icon for the OBEY GIANT campaign. Drawing on ideas of propaganda, surveillance, and Big Brother— the fictional, power-wielding entity in George Orwell's novel 1984—he borrowed fellow artist Barbara Kruger’s strong graphic style, juxtaposing images culled from the mass media with bold red slogans that alter their meaning. Of all the portraits Shepard Fairey has created, only one can truly be called the image of this generation: the Barack Obama HOPE poster. Since its release in February 2008,the iconic image spread like a virus on TV, in print and online, on t-shirts and buttons, and guerrilla-style on streets all over the globe. While this was undoubtedly a historic moment for America, not even Fairey could have anticipated that it would become possibly the biggest poster campaign in modern history.
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PEOPLE
FEED THE Visual artists have appropriated popular imagery since the early 1900s. Borrowing imagery in order to create something new has since exploded as a cultural phenomenon with the advent of the computer age and its most ubiquitous commands: cut and paste. Appropriation allows artists to build upon collective cultural knowledge, while often providing critical commentary,parody,personal expression, and dialogue.
To create this iconic portrait, Fairey searched the internet for a photo of Obama that he felt had the right gesture; from there, he re-illustrated and reduced the image to a graphic, three-color image. The red, white, and blue of the American flag merge together as if to suggest the union of Red and Blue states.
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PEOPLE
SUBVERT THE SYSTEM At the end of the 1990s Fairey’s artistic crusade evolved. With the OBEY GIANT campaign, Fairey started to challenge the corporate advertising machine. He asks us to consider whether the so-called “public space” is really public. Most advertising takes an “in your face” approach to sell or influence consumers. The OBEY GIANT campaign sells nothing, but its mysterious imagery, ambiguity, and underground appeal has made passers-by worldwide question the visual noise that crowds our streets.
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BRAND YOURSELF
Fairey currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California,where he manages a multifaceted graphic design enterprise.He is married and has two daughters, who have become subjects of his work. OBEY has many tentacles: street art, fine art limited-edition posters, stickers, and other wares through www.obeygiant.com; the OBEY Clothing line, for which Fairey is creative director; Studio Number One, his graphic design company; and Subliminal Projects, originally created with Blaze Blouin as an artist collective and now run by Fairey and his wife Amanda as a multifunctional gallery space located in his L.A. headquarters. main page
From Andy Warhol’s Factory to Takashi Murakami’s Kaikai Kiki LLC,it is more and more common for artists to operate in this multifaceted way, mimicking business-like models to manage their studios. Artist Jeff Koons, like Murakami, is known for the factory-like production of his work and the ways it seeps into mainstream culture, from a limited-edition t-shirt for The Gap to a jewelry collaboration with fashion designer Stella McCartney. However, such initiatives are highly criticized by segments of the art community. For Fairey, access to a broader audience is the ultimate goal.
KEEP IT REAL
In recent years Shepard Fairey has participated in several group exhibitions in both commercial and non-profit spaces around the world. As street art gains acceptance among mainstream museums, Fairey keeps his work directly on the street as one of the cornerstones of his artistic practice. Some of his outdoor projects can already be seen around Boston and Cambridge—visit www.flickr.com/groups/obeyboston. New works will be installed throughout the run of the exhibition, as multiple sites have been secured through private parties.
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GALLERY
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