y e Ob y E r i a f d r a p e h s d n a m e d d s u p p ly a n
t / B o s to n r A y r a r o p e of Contem t u tit s In e Th 09
ust 16, 20
February 6 – Aug
e d i w d l r o w o t r e st k n a r p y s t r a m o r s u o i l l e b e r e “How to go f h t g n losi t u o h t i w ( n o n e cultural phenom ” ) l l a t i d e t r a t s spirit that
posse” a s a h t n ia G e th ndre In 1989 the first “A ct je ro p T IAN G EY B the O d n a d te a re c s a w r sticke airey, the F rd a p e h S r, te la ears was born. Twenty y rst solo fi is h g in v a h is , n mpaig man behind the ca at th in h it W . n to s o B e ICA th t a n io it ib h x e m u muse r and te s k n ra p y s rt a m o ne fr time, Fairey has go dwide rl o w to ro e h d n u ergro ts, skateboarders’ und n ri p rt a e n fi , ls ra u r his m fo n o n e m o n e h p l cultura s, all e y d n a — s n ig a p m r ca and street art poste grity. te in c ti is rt a is h g in without los
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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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Left: Icon Face, 1996. Right: OG Sticker Sheet, 1989. Images courtesy of the artist.
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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 campaign.
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.
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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FEED THE PEOPLE 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.
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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SUBVERT THE SYSTEM
The lampposts, billboards, and commercial storefronts that saturate our
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.
try to provide an alternative to both the use and consumption of public
Left: OBAMA HOPE, 2008. Right, clockwise from top left: Gigante, 1997;
Print and Destroy, 2000; Giant Angela Davis, 1998, courtesy of OBEY GIANT ART; Obedience Problems, 1999. All other images courtesy of the artist.
cities have become a battleground where a seemingly lopsided fight between street artists and corporate America plays out. Artists like Fairey space, often at a cost—Fairey himself has been arrested and beaten on numerous occasions. At the same time, Fairey and other street artists exploit the same system they are fighting against, generating profitable art and design to fund their less politically correct initiatives on city 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.
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.
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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. Log onto www.icaboston.org to find out about our Bike Tours with Curator Pedro Alonzo. To contribute your OBEY sightings, join the ICA on Flickr or email your pics to mediatheque@icaboston.org
Left: Duality of Humanity 2, mural installation in Allston, MA, 2008, photo: Drew Katz. Right, clockwise from top: Shepard Fairey; Joan Jett Album Stencil, 2005, cour-
tesy of Derek Baurmann-Provenance (Shepard Fairey Obey Giant); Marilyn Warhol, 2000, courtesy of OBEY GIANT ART.
GO FURTHER PUMP UP THE VOLUME
CONQUER ALL MEDIA
Music is both protagonist and backdrop for the OBEY GIANT campaign. Music has always found a way of speaking to disenchanted youth who find themselves at odds with society’s values. The Sex Pistols, Bob Marley, The Clash, Interpol—music and musicians have not only influenced Fairey’s work, but are also among his favorite subjects in street works, fine art posters, and commercial projects.
Hear more on the ICA’s FREE audio commentary, featuring the artist and guest curator Pedro H. Alonzo. Borrow an iPod from the admissions desk, access on your cell phone at 617-231-4055, or download to your MP3 player at www.icaboston.org/gofurther.
Check out Shepard Fairey’s personal soundtrack! Listen to the artist’s curated “mixtape.” Borrow an iPod at the admissions desk or log onto www.icaboston.org. Check our website for a list of additional guest “mixtapers.”
Visit the Poss Family Mediatheque for additional content on Shepard Fairey’s work, including exclusive documentaries by Helen Stickler, interviews by Karmaloop TV, and commentary by Boston street art gurus Drew Katz and Geoff Hargadon. ICA interpretive programs are made possible by the significant support of the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Nathaniel Saltonstall Arts Fund.
KNOW THE WORDS
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Bike Tour: Shepard Fairey Off Site
Appropriate: the act of manipulating an existing method/medium/object to create new meaning. Appropriation should not be understood simply as plagiarism (taking what someone else has created) but as a complex negotiation between the self and the larger culture, an absorption and transformation of shared resources into the raw materials of one’s own expression.
Shepard Fairey's first museum survey is accompanied by an ICA special edition of Supply & Demand, the retrospective catalogue of the artist's work published by Gingko Press in association with Obey Giant. This edition includes an ICA supplement with an introductory essay and interview with the artist by former ICA Assistant Curator Emily Moore Brouillet.
Join the ICA for a bike tour of Fairey's public work in Boston and Cambridge. The tour will cover approximately 10 miles, arriving back at the ICA in time to hit the Water Café for lunch. Space is limited.
Bombing or Hitting: to paint, sticker or post many surfaces in an area.
Available at the ICA Store at the Holly McGrath Design Center, located off the main lobby on the first floor of the ICA, or shop anytime at www.icastore.org
Culture Jamming: the act of appropriating existing mass media (e.g. billboards, ads, and posters) to subvert the original meaning or message. Culture jamming is founded on the idea that advertising is a form of propaganda and that there is little escape from this propaganda in industrialized nations. Paste-ups or Street poster art: graphic images and words on newsprint-thin paper often addressing political viewpoints. It explores languages and/or techniques of the traditional poster. The thin nature of the poster and the adhesive used to attach them, wheat-paste (see below), are designed to make the posters hard to tear or remove. Rubyliths: used in many areas of graphic design to produce masks for various printing techniques, such as screen-printing. It consists of two films sandwiched together. The bottom layer is a clear polyester backing sheet. The top layer is a translucent, red-colored, self-adhesive emulsion. It is designed to be both easy to cut with a knife and light safe. Stencilling: a form of image-making that involves cutting out a design from paper or card and using this to replicate images quickly with paint. Sticker tags: are commonly done on blank postage stickers, or really anything with an adhesive side to it. Street Art: best defined as the artwork done in the streets, illegally, free of rules, and that doesn’t qualify as graffiti because it doesn’t revolve around tagging or textbased subject matter. It can take the simple form of posters or stickers, or more complex, fully-rendered and elaborate sculptural installations or large murals. Some common materials and techniques include flyposting (also known as wheat-pasting), stenciling, stickers, freehand drawing and projecting videos. Wheat-paste: closely resembling wallpaper paste, it is made by mixing roughly equal portions of flour and water and heating it until it thickens, for the purpose of adhering paper posters to walls and other surfaces. (Sources: Wikipedia, Tate, Tag-neon, and 149th Street)
KEEP EVERYBODY IN THE LOOP Check www.icaboston.org for up–to-the-minute information on all our programs including students, families, and adults. Artist Talk: Shepard Fairey
Thursday, February 5, 6:30 pm As the ICA opens the artist's first museum survey Fairey shares insights into his work, which shifts easily between the realms of fine, commercial, and even political art. Following the talk, Fairey will sign copies of the exclusive ICA edition of the catalogue as well as his redesign of U.K. publications of 1984 and Animal Farm. Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 members, students and seniors This program is made possible through the generosity of Vivien and Alan Hassenfeld. OBEY Experiment
Friday, February 6, 9 pm – 1 am Andre the Giant may have a posse, but we've got Shepard Fairey on the turntable. Head to the galleries to experience the influence and breadth of Fairey's practice, then hit the dance floor as the artist himself DJs for February’s wildly popular Experiment. Tickets: $25 general admission; $20 members and students with valid ID. 21+ This Experiment is sponsored by
Sunday, May 17, 10 am Sunday, June 28, 10 am
Tickets: $20 general admission; $15 members, students, and seniors FREE Public Tours of Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand on Target Thursday Nights at 6 pm and each Saturday and Sunday at 1 pm. All tours leave from the lobby. For Group Visits please contact us at tours@icaboston.org FAMILY PLAY DATES Art Messengers!
Saturday, March 28, 10 am – 4 pm Try your hand at combining graphics and text! Obey Giant
Saturday, June 27, 10 am – 4 pm Stop by the Bank of America Art Lab to work with Boston artists to create posters bearing your own messages. Play Dates are sponsored by Activities in the Bank of America Art Lab are made possible by
Generous support of ICA Youth Education is provided by the Cabot Family Charitable Trust, the Fuller Foundation, and the JP Morgan Chase Foundation. TEEN NIGHT: Shep Fairey Lives
Friday, March 20, 6 – 9 pm Teen Nights are the ICA’s art happenings organized and promoted for teens by teens. Visit www.icateens.org for additional details. The John Hancock Teen Education Program is made possible by significant support from John Hancock Financial Services.
Lunchtime Gallery Talk: Pedro Alonzo, Exhibition Curator
Thursday, February 12, 12 pm Free with museum admission (tickets are available first-come, first-served one hour before the program). Space is limited. Ticket holders receive a 10% discount at the Water Café. May not be combined with any other offer. COURSE: Art and Life: Icons, Urban Scrawl and Dissent
Additional support is provided by the Cabot Family Charitable Trust, the Fuller Foundation, the Krupp Family Foundation, the JPMorgan Chase Foundation, the Paul and Phyllis Fireman Family Foundation, the Ramsey McCluskey Family Foundation, the Rowland Foundation, the William E. and Bertha E. Schrafft Charitable Trust, the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation, the Surdna Foundation, and the Wallace Foundation.
Thursdays, March 19 - April 16, 6:30 - 8 pm Using the exhibition to stimulate discussion, this fiveweek course led by Randi Hopkins will look at the many places where contemporary art intersects with the world at large, including commercial design, music, the street, and the law.
Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand is sponsored by Levi Strauss & Co
Fee: $150 general admission; $120 members, students and seniors. Ticket holders receive a 10% discount at the Water Café and ICA Store.
Additional support is provided by Hal and Jodi Hess, Patricia La Valley and Geoff Hargadon and Timothy Phillips.
ICA/AIGA Design Series: Design as Social Agent
Media Sponsor
Saturday, April 4, 10 am - 5 pm
The Ins titu te o f C o ntem p o r a ry Art/Bo sto n
100 Northern Avenue Boston, MA 02210
Bringing together speakers from the fields of design, street art, music, and politics, this day-long event frames Shepard Fairey’s work within the context of grassroots civic action, punk rock, and 80s graffiti and skate culture. Speakers include Steve Heller, Elliot Earls, Nicholas Blechman, Luba Lukova, Cliff Stolze, Caleb Neelon, and PIXNIT.
This gallery guide is made possible by the significant support of the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family Foundation. Additional support is provided by the Nathaniel Saltonstall Arts Fund. Text: Emma Fernandez Design: José Nieto