Shepard Fairey, "OBEY" Street Artist and Designer

This segment profiles Shepard Fairey, a contemporary artist, graphic designer, and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, calls him one of today's best known and most influential street artists.

He first became known for his "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign. His work became more widely known in 2008 for his Barack Obama "HOPE" poster. His work is included in the collections at The Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Fairey became obsessed with art in 1984 at the age of 14. At that time he started to place his drawings on skateboards and T-shirts. In 1992, Fairey graduated from Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Arts in illustration. In addition to his successful graphic design career, Fairey also DJ's at many clubs.
Fairey sits on the advisory board of Reaching to Embrace the Arts, a not-for-profit organization that provides art supplies to disadvantaged schools and students. Fairey created the "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign in 1989, while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). This later evolved into the "Obey Giant" campaign, which has grown via an international network of collaborators replicating Fairey's original designs. His "Obey" Campaign draws from the John Carpenter movie "They Live" which starred pro wrestler Roddy Piper, taking a number of its slogans, including the "Obey" slogan, as well as the "This is Your God" slogan. Fairey has also spun off the OBEY clothing line from the original sticker campaign.




After graduation, he founded a small printing business in Providence, RI called Alternate Graphics, specializing in t-shirt and sticker silkscreens, which afforded Fairey the ability to continue pursuing his own artwork. While residing in Providence in 1994, Fairey met American filmmaker Helen Stickler, who had also attended RISD and graduated with a film degree. The following spring, Stickler completed a short documentary film about Shepard and his work, titled "Andre the Giant has a Posse". The film premiered in the 1995 New York Underground Film Festival, and went on to play at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. It has been seen in more than 70 festivals and museums internationally.
Fairey was a founding partner of the design studio BLK/MRKT Inc. which specialised in guerilla marketing. Clients included Pepsi, Hasbro and Netscape (for whom Fairey designed the red dinosaur version of mozilla.org's logo and mascot). His OBEY Giant line of clothing was sold at the upscale Nordstrom department store. In 2003 he founded the Studio Number One design agency with his wife Amanda Fairey. The agency produced the cover work for the Black Eyed Peas's album Monkey Business and the poster for the film Walk the Line. Fairey has also designed the covers for The Smashing Pumpkins' album Zeitgeist, Flogging Molly's CD/DVD Whiskey on a Sunday, and the Led Zeppelin compilation Mothership and Anthrax's The Greater Of Two Evils.


In 2005 Fairey collaborated with DJ Shadow on a box set, with t-shirts, stickers, prints, and a mix CD by Shadow. In 2006, Fairey contributed eight vinyl etchings to a limited-edition series of 12" singles by alternative rock band Mission of Burma, and has also done work for the musical group Interpol.


Fairey was arrested on February 7, 2009, on his way to the premiere of his show at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, Massachusetts, on two outstanding warrants related to graffiti. He was charged with damage to property for having painted two Boston area locations with graffiti, a Boston Police Department spokesman said. Fairey created a series of posters supporting Barack Obama's candidacy for President in 2008, including the iconic "HOPE" portrait.

Fairey created the portrait of Barack Obama that TIME Magazine used as the cover art for its 2008 Person of the Year issue. The portrait is also used for the cover of Esquire Magazine's February 2009 issue. His influence, particularly with Obama's presidential campaign, contributed to him being named a Person of the Year 2008 by GQ Magazine.

In January 2009, the 'HOPE' image was acquired by the US National Portrait Gallery, and became part of the permanent collection.

It was unveiled and put on display at the Gallery on January 17, 2009.

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[sssergiopaezzz]

All I have to say is..... OBEY

[cyberturban]

@bigdogs10 The point he's trying to make with OBEY is to question authority. You see his iconic obey poster plastered or wheat pasted somewhere and it's supposed to make you think "WHY should I obey?" The whole concept is really like reverse psychology because by putting up his art in the streets and vandalising, he is disobeying the laws. Shepard Fairey doesn't want you to obey. He's trying to awaken the general public to important issues through street art.

[eternalvision8]

Rebel, Rebel, I Love You So! Thank you, Shepard Fairey!

[hate2skatelove2ride]

the press wants to be payed because they know he is good and they cant touch him!

[vanspremuch]

all i can say is that heis a top guy,

[ReactArts]

haha, was with my sis at this shopping square in London, and i saw an Obey sign hidden on a side of a building, lool i got so excited about it xD

[thismyname2]

@rob420fle that does not mean he is satanic. if i take any random symbol and turn it upside down and flip it inside out and look at it in negative, i might catch some kind of triangle. does that mean its a hidden illuminati messege? no.

[vans4menu]

wow this is actually some very decent reporting. I forgot what that was like..

[trousersnake7]

@rob420fle Or get harassed by the higher ups themselves, and in some occasions get their image destroyed so the public think they're loopy and irrelevant, e.g Charlie Sheen, Britney Spears, Dave Chappelle and thats just to name a few. Some celebrities who refuse to take orders from the higher ups actually end up dead mysteriously from drug overdoses and supposed suicides...

[trousersnake7]

@rob420fle it's supposed to he's an artist... there are more layers to the message he conveys in his artwork, and he's smart about it most people who openly expose the Illuminati or any higher up groups either get ridiculed or called crazy by the public.