Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey created an empire around his pop art / street art influenced designs. He is arguably one of the kings of the street art community. Many would argue that he cannot be defined as solely a street artist. And they would be right.

Fairey started promoting his artwork in a repetitive and publicly obvious way. Stickers. Fairey's "Andre the Giant Has a Posse..." A.k.a "OBEY" helped him slip into the street art world. He created the design after graduating while studying at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1989. However, his work expanded and flourished quite exponentially. He has had numerous exhibitions and has established himself as an iconic graphic artist. He became most well known in the wider community for his Hope poster design during the Obama campaign. The design quickly became a memorable and influencial aspect of the Obama campaign during 2008. Initially, campaign officials argued to have no affiliation with the artist. There was some controversy, as the design was being popularly spread in an illegitimate manner (graffiti, stickers, posters) by Fairey. Eventually, however Obama was grateful toward Fairey and wrote him a letter of thanks.

Here are some examples of his work:

Andre:

 Andre the Giant Has a Posse:

Obama:

 

Other Works:

Fairey’s dedication and passion as a street artist are evident through his continual prevalence. He may have expanded as a significant modern artist, but he always stayed true to the street art community. Fairey had been arrested numerous time for grafitti related incidences. It wasn’t until February of 2009 that Fairey’s arrest was more noteworthy. Fairey was arrested in Boston for two tag graffiti - related acts.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/07/shepard-fairey-arrested-i_n_164872.html

(I’ll design a post around the concept of tagging but here’s a little intro: http://www.wikihow.com/Graffiti-Tag).

I first found out about Shepard Fairey while eating at Nice Slice Pizza on Thayer Street in Providence. His artwork is all over the walls and his stickers are handed out for free at the counter. I asked about the artwork one day, got a name and started researching. I made connections to the Obama poster and found it pretty neat that there was a major accumulation of his work 5 minutes from my house.  A year or two later, while in high school, a student teacher taught a lesson on pop art and used Fairey as an example artist, whom we could chose to model our work off of. This was my weak/rough interpretation, using Dwight from “The Office” as my focus:

...I know...pales in comparison

Blog Autobio

Throughout human history, we have cycled through countless modes of artistic expression. However, eventually, we were going to start running out of ideas. Only for so long can we look at another canvas covered in paint and call it a unique masterpiece.Thankfully, vandalism is illegal, so someone was bound to start having fun with it for the sake of rebellion. I cannot rightfully say where or when the graffiti movement started; but it seems that since the new millennium, street art has exploded as a cultural and expressive movement. Some people may think that this is an overstatement, but this is probably because they find no interest in graffiti, and therefore have not taken the time to notice the intensity of the movement.

Cultures around the world are being taken over by a uniting new force that is street art. I find this force extremely interesting and noteworthy. Arguably, in art history, there has never been a medium so perfectly scandalous. As vandalism is illegal, the messages or meanings behind some artists’ work become far more shocking. After all, it will only last for a few days. That is not to say that all street art has some deeper meaning. There is plenty of nonsensical, or just plain bad street art. However, what is good, is excellent and memorable; and what is bad is easily forgotten and washed away.

I hope that through my blog I will be able to pass this interest along to everyone. I want to show those who frown upon graffiti that it is actually an outstanding form of artistic expression. I want to invite those who are interested to learn more. I also hope to cause some artistic discoveries.

Exit Through the Gift Shop

I watched this documentary last night. Not what I expected, but excellent. It was an adventurous, fast paced, informative account of street art culture around the world. The director is sure to depict the graffiti of some big name street artists (Banksy, Shepard Fairey, Space Invader, etc.) as an entire cultural movement. In order to appreciate the work, I think that one should see this expanding medium in such a way. These artists are taking risks to spread a message. They are doing what they want and saying what they want. Their spontaneous lives are full of tricky encounters and memorable stories. They travel the world to find the best walls to sprawl their work. They make boring buildings and street corners places of major social interest. They are crowd-pleasers. And all of the citizens snapping camera phone shots of their works cannot deny this.

The film mostly tells the story of the director, Thierry Guetta (a.k.a. Mr. Brainwash) and his ever expanding obsession with the street art world. His interest grows as he follows around his cousin, "Space Invader", on his graffiti excursions. From this sprouts an overwhelming love for graffiti. Thierry researches and finds other popular street art names. He becomes a document-er, keeping track of the pieces of art that would otherwise be temporary. Eventually, he takes up the life-style himself, organizing an entire exhibit with his countless newly developed pieces. He films everything. He is a little nutty. However, the entire hour and twenty-six minutes are utterly captivating.

Banksy

If anyone is hesitant about the wild world of graffiti, I would first advise them to check out Banksy. It seemed fitting to base my first post around this anonymous British street artist. Banksy's artwork has been strewn about major cities of the world, though rarely lasting more than a week, or two, with luck. Banksy began displaying his work in the streets in the early 90's, mostly in London. He grew to appreciate the art of stenciling, which many of his fellow underground artists had adopted. Today, Banksy has published several books of his different works, a movie ("Exit Through the Gift Shop") recently premiered in January 2010, and the graffiti mastermind has had numerous exhibitions in the UK and America since the millennium. Banksy is by no means strictly a street artist. Although, I think that most of his street work is far more aesthetically pleasing and intriguing than his exhibition works.  So, I'll try to focus on his most intriguing displays of vandalism. His works don't all have something to say, but the ones that do, say it loud and clear. Though unidentified, he seems like the cheeky, outspoken political activist that the government should start paying attention to rather than washing away.

Here is a trailer for the film "Exit Through the Gift Shop". I haven't watched it yet. But I'll let you know what I think when I do.

Banksy has a thing for rats.

 

 And monkeys!

And government officials...

The POPO

Solidiers / Anti- War Pieces

Some bizarre...

 

Some crystal clear...

Street Installations

This is a video of an installation of a dolphin stuck in an oil spill that Bansky placed at a popular pier. 

These pieces were (understandably) controversial, and thus, weren't visible much longer after the shots were taken (save the first of the POPOs, which is not a graffiti piece).

These massive satirical assaults on society are the makings of a legendary street graffiti artist.