 New York City, it's your mayor, Eric Adams. Welcome to the Get Stuffed, Done Cast. Let's get to it. Hello, everyone. Really excited about our next episode of Get Stuffed, Done Cast. I'm horned now today with Shepherd Fairway, a street artist, activist, and founder of Obey clothing. We want to really discuss the importance of public art, particularly in underserved communities. The history of street art and hip hop and the Beastie Boys murals Shepherd is doing for the city of New York. And we just love that street art. You know, when I was president, we did a couple of murals throughout the city. And you know what I found interesting is that when groups of different culture, ethnicities all come together and do a mural, it just brings a different level of energy. And so I want to thank you for what you have done. And I want to get into some of the stuff you have done. But tell me about Obey. What is the meaning of that name? Well, one of the things that I noticed when I started making street art was that people had a lot of questions. What is it? Why are you doing it? And I thought, yeah, it's great that people are asking questions, but how can I make it even more provocative, get them to ask the right questions? And I saw a movie called They Live and the word Obey was used in it. Also, there was an artist that I really liked who used a lot of typography, Barbara Krueger, in her work. And I thought, what is something that people do, whether it's a response to a written rule, a social convention, a fear of being out of step with things and being judged. They obey or they follow the path of release resistance. And I felt that using the word obey to get people to confront that idea and say, what do I want to obey? What do I want to submit to? What do I believe in? It could set off a chain reaction that could make people more analytical and find more precise purpose in their lives. I love that. I love that. And I remember that movie. I've seen a big sign. Obey, Obey. And now when you think about it, art is powerful. It could motivate. It could infuriate. It could instigate. It could just really compel us to lean into our discomfort because being stagnant and comfortable is a sign of really not growth. And healthy discomfort can really take us to another evolution. My trainer used to say, no pain, no gain. What inspired you to use art as a form of communication? Well, from the time I was a kid, I really enjoyed just the technical process of making art, but I also found it was incredible therapy for whatever stresses I had with my schoolwork or socially. When I was drawing and painting or later making homemade t-shirts and things like that, all of my insecurity, all of my anxiety would evaporate for that moment while I was making the art. And then I realized that art is a really great tool of communication that people respond to emotionally. It gives people a sense of pride and empowerment. And it's a social tool that allows people to share with other people and finding connection to people is really important to human beings. So all of that motivated me. But to be a little bit more specific, I saw how musicians like Bob Marley, The Clash, Public Enemy, Bob Dylan, Bikini Kill, Patty Smith were using art. Lots of genres were using their music, their art form, as a way of conveying ideas through something that was enjoyable to experience. And I thought visual art should do more of that. I want to do that with visual art. And I had role models and a few different artists from Robert Rauschenberg, did things for Earth Day, Barbara Krueger did things around social justice. My name is Robbie Canal out in LA was doing political things. But I thought I'd like to do that with art, but I loved the spirit of graffiti. So graffiti not going through the bureaucracy, being people saying I exist and I might be told that I should be powerless and in the margins, but I want to find a way to express myself. That was really meaningful to me. I mean, there's lots of emotions people feel about graffiti. Some people feel it's vandalism, but I always thought in certain places it was appropriate and it was a sign of humanity's desire to say I exist just like a flower growing through a crack in the sidewalk. But for me, art is a way to connect my ideas with people through a medium that they might actually ponder and not reject instantly. Sometimes I think that for other forms of media people say that sounds like a talking point that I don't identify with as a Democrat, Republican, this race, that race, this religion, that religion. Art sometimes is able to get through those barriers. Well said. And what do you hope people walk away with after seeing one of your pieces? Well, at the very least, I hope that they consider the power of art. I do a lot of art in public spaces and I think that there should be more art in public spaces because it enriches communities. But for someone to look at a piece of art and say, oh, that person wants to say something, what are they trying to say? What does it make me feel? How do I feel about the way it looks? All the different dynamics that go into it. But with my work, it's frequently about social justice. So I hope they see, not only in my art, but in their lives, the possibility of making people think about a better path forward. And so what I'm doing a lot of times is not just to say, on a soapbox, here's what I think, listen to me. It's also to say you have within your power ways to communicate, ways to shape the world. You're not powerless. And powerless people frequently are unhappy. So I want my art to be about empowerment. We often talk about the physical nourishment of our bodies and making sure we eat a well balanced, healthy meal. And we fail to realize the emotional nourishment of we need art. We need colors. We need sounds to make sure we have a balance of mental nourishment at the same time. And your art contributes to that because you were able to capture something in your Obama poster that said a lot. It really broke the norms because you were using colors and images that traditionally was not part of a presidential campaign. And it put you on a international level. People actually define the campaign by that hope poster. How did that come about? Well, I was really inspired by Obama. I was inspired by his 2004 DNC speech and then started to follow him a bit. And when he announced his candidacy, I thought it would be great to do something for him. I had a friend who had a connection to the campaign. And I thought maybe because I'd been arrested for street art and done some things critical of the Iraq war that my support might not be wanted. So I made sure that the Obama campaign was okay with me making something. But I did it just as a grassroots tool of activism. They said, yeah, we know your work. We're fine with you doing that. And I made it based on what I saw as Obama's challenges, which were that he wasn't really well established as a politician, that he was half-black. Unfortunately, in our society, this creates an additional challenge for him. So I looked at portraying him as somebody with vision, a two-dimensional sculpture, somebody that's validated by the style of the rendering, and someone who's in red, white, and blue in patriotic colors. Equally legitimate for a leader, for a politician. And I looked at all those things as subtle things to convey but important things to convey. And when I did it, I thought, okay, it needs to be different from most political imagery, but it also needs to be safe enough to not be seen as radical or frightening. And luckily, it seemed to strike a chord with people and find the necessary balance to feel appealing as different, but also approachable. And what's fascinating is that life isn't black and white. There's so many shades of not only gray, blues, orange, purples, and the poster, for me, it represented the complexities of our emotions and what we feel. And people always want to place us into corners and say, either you are for this or against that, when in fact, there are just so many shades, and that's what I saw in the poster. And I'm pretty sure everyone who saw the poster may have saw different things. But I walked away with the large word of hope, which was his signature, and the complexity of life. Life is complex. Well, one thing I forgot to mention, which it plays right into what you're talking about, is that when Obama said in the speech that really put him on most people's radar, we're not red states, we're not blue states, we're the United States, I wanted to use red, white, and blue and have the red and blue converge in the middle of his face and showing that this polarization that we're dealing with is really unhealthy because most people have views that may be aligned with one party more than the other, but people aren't monolithic. And so also in order to create the greatest good for the greatest number of people, compromise and understanding the vast variety of needs of a society is really important. So what you're talking about is right up my alley and I'm amazed that you got that because it was definitely intended. The excitement of doing one of my heroes, Nelson Mandela, you did a 22,174 square feet image of Nelson Mandela when I was in South Africa and went over and saw the small prison cell and hard floor that he slept on. Always think about it. How did it feel doing that mural? Well, I mean, Mandela is an amazing inspiration and I put him up there with Martin Luther King, Gandhi. And to get to do that mural in Johannesburg, as an American to have that opportunity was really incredible and to go to Soweto and go and hang out and see the house that he originally grew up in and go and have a meal with the guys that own the clothing store that brought Chuck D in to do a performance. It was really special for me and then just to hear perspectives. Traveling for me has been a very important part of just seeing how other people live, seeing how they think and expanding my empathy. So it's an incredible honor to do those things. I don't take it lightly at all and even the inclusion of some of the desert flowers and the pattern in the background were symbolic of resilience through very, very challenging circumstances. That's a flower that grows in hot sun with little water. And so all the symbolism and stuff that I take seriously and I want to make sure that I am being really thorough about my research of the local culture so that I can participate in a way that actually will connect with the locals. People know your glory and what you have done and some of the great pieces. That's the fruit that we see on the tree. But tell me the roots. What's your story? How did you get here? Did you grow up in New York City? Were your mom and dad artists? What's the roots that keeps you connected? I'm actually from South Carolina and my mom was head cheerleader and my dad was captain of the football team. I grew up solidly middle class but there was something about preppy culture that didn't sit well with me and I discovered skateboarding and punk rock and then hip hop when I was in high school and these were very rebellious creative cultures. I started making homemade t-shirts and stickers when I was in high school and that was a way for me to have a cultural connection to some of the things that I loved sharing bands and imagery that I liked with friends with what I was wearing which eventually played into me starting my own fashion line and then it also played into when I went off to art school in Rhode Island and started coming to New York because my best friend was going to NYU seeing the graffiti and picking up on the spirit of that but wanting to do it in my own way where I'm making t-shirts that I'm taking to boutiques but I was also making stickers and stencils that I was putting up on the street and a lot of that came out of me feeling that a society that's almost like I came from in South Carolina a culture that's almost saying this is what your background is so this is what your future is felt stifling and I wanted to explore a little more than that and New York City gives you a lot of opportunities for that Your mom and dad, are they still with us? Yeah, and they, you know, we were far apart for a while and I've become a lot more appreciative of everything they did for me and they've become a lot more understanding of my vision as an artist so we're very close now Yeah, and that's an interesting cycle with families you know, not all families but I find when I speak with close friends they talk about, it seems like there's a period where everyone is, number one, we adjusting to the relationships because we're always going to view our children as our children and our children are always in a pursuit of having their independence and finding themselves and I think once the water settles you can come back and realize that, hey you are now an adult the relationship with mom and dad retrospectively you can say, now I know what you were talking about and I think there's a new appreciation for that new relationship that has been established, you know, with them Yeah, I've definitely come to that point with my parents and they've been giving me advice about my own children my wife and I have two daughters and our oldest daughter just started at NYU Nice, nice, nice Okay, daddy girls you know, are they at the stage of, well you're a cool dad but at the stage of, hey dad, get lost Well, I think that no matter what I do I'm not going to be cool to them they call me boomer but they're very smart independent girls who I know are going to do great things in the world but they're, especially our older daughter she's pushing her independence and she wants to blaze her own trail and I admire that Do they know who you are to the world? Yeah, they definitely understand who I am and in some ways they appreciate it but in other ways they think that I was always too busy and when they're being mean they say, oh, you do a lot of stuff that you claim is altruistic but it's just so you get credit for it which is really narcissistic and I say, well, you know, ways narcissism can be worse You know, and there's a big sacrifice you make when you share yourself with the globe you know, our children sometimes believe we didn't share ourselves enough with them you know, I think about some of those days some of the games I missed were joined and some of the things I didn't do and you know, he has learned to understand but those are some painful periods of when you are so much in the public life that you're not there in the private life Yeah, well, I'm always hoping that eventually they'll understand that the effort was for them and for the greater good but no, our family life wasn't typical and my wife and I love them very much and always tried to show them support but yeah, I think that the amount of time that my work takes and the amount of energy and attention I have to give to the rest of the world is unusual Well said, well said I am so happy, Shepherd, you joined us from the streets of Joe Bird to the streets of New York City you made street art a part of our lives and I thank you for that we're a better city because you use art to express yourself Thank you so much Thanks so much for having me and I love the New York City art life Thank you And this is the information I wanted to share today I hope to see you for another episode of Get Stuff Done Cast