Cristian Sosa
Research/Profiling Artist
10/21/10
"Normally, my thing is, 'Screw you if you don't like it. I'm doing it anyway,'" Fairey says.
Shepard Fairey’s work is seen as influential and follows a common theme of him striving for a
change. He was born on February 15th, 1970. He was skateboarding around his neighborhood
before he became known as a graffiti artist. He grew up in South Carolina and he became
interested in art when he started to do drawings on skateboards and t-shirts. Fairey also attended
college in Rhode Island where he graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a
degree of bachelor of fine arts. What really made him more known was the Obama Hope poster
in 2008. He ended up winning a scoop award for the design on the Obama poster. The Institute
of Contemporary Art has claimed him as one of today’s most influential street artists.
One of Shepard Fairey’s most recognizable works is his image of Obama with the text on
the bottom reading “hope” or progress”. He created this during the presidential campaign and
this image became a huge symbol. It was printed out in posters, buttons, stickers, and flyers
many started to have this image around cities it was on TV as well it helped Obama gain many
more supporters. Behind that image was a hope for a change in America. The whole hope and
progress was what Obama had promised for the nation, people were in trouble because of the
recession we were headed into and this poster was a symbol that things would get better. Fairey’s
image included these two key words to show his support for Obama’s cause. This image grabbed
the attention of many across the nation because it clearly stated what Obama was offering to us
which was a change in how our country was and Fairey advertised it.
To some it was just another way of getting votes, but to the rest it instilled a sense of
hope for a better future. During the time of elections the country was in debt because of the war
cost in Iraq, the stock market was going down, and there was a big recession. Along with that
many people were getting laid off unemployment was increasing at a big rate. So this image
which became a symbol made people feel like there was a change to come if they voted for
Obama. By Fairey creating this image he shows he is politically involved which is also shown in
the next image he created.
Another one of Shepard Fairey’s works was once again him being involved politically
and how he supports a change in society. This time he created an image for an event that is going
on still right now it is a recent image he has created. As most of us are aware the state of Arizona
has passed a new law that states that the authorities have the right to go up to any person that
they suspect might not be legally in the United States and ask for identification. This has caused
a lot of tension with the minorities and the government.
In Fairey’s image there is what you assume is a little girl or boy holding a bouquet of
roses. Across the bottom it reads “Alto Arizona” which is the name of the movement against the
law that is asking for Obama’s assistance. Then on each corner it says end 287G and stop
SB1070 which are the laws that allow authorities to go out to get immigrants without papers.
What really grabs my attention is that hat that says “we are human”, this is to show that the
immigrants shouldn’t be mistreated there humans like the rest of us. Shepard Fairey image has
strong meaning to it and he likes to express his idea on this topic clearly he is against it and
shows his support for Alto Arizona.
What is known for sure is that all his works will be influential like the ones I have
explained. Fairey is very much involved in politics and in issues across the nation with his main
theme supporting a change. He is now well known and has created his own website called
www.Obey.com. Where he has a collection of all his works and also contains other types of
media, info, and even things to purchase. Many more interesting designs will be created by
Fairey in the future.
Bibliography:
http://www.altoarizona.com/sb1070.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey
http://obeygiant.com/archives
http://www.independentmail.com/news/2009/jan/17/local-womans-grandson-behind-obamahope-poster/?partner=RSS
http://www.coloradodaily.com/ci_12954507?IADID=Search-www.coloradodaily.comwww.coloradodaily.com#axzz130R1Rhvd
http://ic.galegroup.com.ezproxy.lib.umb.edu/ic/bic1/NewsDetailsPage/NewsDetailsWindow?dis
playGroupName=News&prodId=BIC1&action=e&windowstate=normal&catId=&documentId=
GALE|A195917368&mode=view