In the seven years since Shepard Fairey created what might be, to date, the most iconic artwork of the century — the “Hope” poster for Barack Obama’s 2008 US presidential campaign — its subject has had to make a lot of compromises and its creator has lost a lot of hope.
Shepard Fairey
Posted inArt
A Documentarian of Creative Disruption
Ondi Timoner is the only two-time recipient of Sundance’s Grand Jury Prize for documentaries. She’s also the founder and CEO of Interloper Films, a full-service production company based in Pasadena, California, that continually releases videos through an online video portal, A Total Disruption.
Posted inIn Brief
Shepard Fairey Hawks “Radical Art Supplies” on ‘Portlandia’
“You wanna be radical? This is the radical store for you,” says Phil (Fred Armisen) of Shocking Art Supplies in a skit from a new episiode of Portlandia that features a guest appearance by street artist and branding guru Shepard Fairey.
Posted inArt
Shepard Fairey Isn’t the First Artist Going Into Space
Now that street artist Shepard Fairey has designed a mission patch that will travel to the International Space Station, will other artists be drawn to this extraterrestrial exhibition opportunity? Here is a look at some other artist collaborations on patches.
Posted inArt
The Aesthetics of Democracy
BERKELEY, California — This election year both candidates used overly aestheticized imagery for their campaigns, but what is the place for quality art in our democracy?
Posted inArt
Does Barry McGee Have Something to Prove?
BERKELEY, California — Recently I went on my first visit to the Berkeley Art Museum to see their Barry McGee show. To be honest, I was mostly indifferent to McGee walking into the show, and largely skeptical about graffiti or street artists’ role in a museum setting. Although the show convinced me of McGee’s talent, it still left me wondering about representing graffiti institutionally. Having studied painting and printmaking at a San Francisco Art Institute, and several large shows in museums and galleries across the world, the San Franciscan native who garnered fame for street tags like Ray Fong, Lydia Fong, Bernon Vernon, Ray Virgil, and Twist is no outsider artist anymore.
Posted inNews
Shepard Fairey Gets Two Years’ Probation and $25,000 Fine
The saga of Shepard Fairey vs. the Associated Press finally came to a close today, as the LA-based street artist was sentenced to two years of probation and a $25,000 fine for committing criminal contempt of court. Fairey pled guilty to the charge earlier this year.
Posted inBooks
Stickers: Stuck-Up Piece of Crap
Looking at Stickers: Stuck-Up Piece of Crap: From Punk Rock to Contemporary Art, a history of stickers from various subcultures, from graffiti and street art to skating and punk music, two years after its publication, the book remains significant as the first major publication on Do-It-Yourself sticker culture; yet the book has also become outdated, as the sticker scene, at least in New York, has evolved past glossy, printed stickers.
Posted inOpinion
Keith Haring Products Redefine the Ability to Find Pleasure in Art
Last week I got an email advertising a collaboration between Shepard Fairey’s apparel company OBEY and the Keith Haring Foundation, resulting in T-shirts, tank tops and baseball hats — including one with an unsettling combination of Haring’s three-eyed face and Fairey’s OBEY graphic — sold at mall hipster-mecca Urban Outfitters. This was enough to make begin questioning the Keith Haring Foundation’s treatment of the artist’s legacy — and then I heard about the Tenga x Keith Haring sex toys.
Posted inArt
26th Street Courts the Masses with a Block Party
In unofficial conjunction with the inauguration of Frieze New York on Randall’s Island, the galleries on Chelsea’s 26th Street decided to go big and throw a block party last Saturday. If there is one kind of party that galleries excel at, it’s glamorous and exclusive after-hours functions, on a rooftop suite somewhere far above the streets of Chelsea; if there’s one area where galleries are found unanimously wanting, it’s dealing with the public, with “regular” people, the viewers who venture through their doors simply to look and not to buy. Considering this, it was surprising and encouraging to see high-end Chelsea galleries reaching out, in a coordinated effort, to the art-going public.
Posted inArt
How To Talk About Art: Jeff Koons Edition
With plans in the offing for Jeff Koons’s astounding “Train” to dangle preposterously over the heedless noggins of visitors to the High Line, it might just be a good time to polish up your talking points regarding the greatest of all kitsch artists.
Posted inNews
Shepard Fairey Pleads Guilty to Contempt Charge in Manhattan District Court
The ordeal over Shepard Fairey’s Obama Hope image has turned a new corner when today the LA-based artist pled guilty to one count of criminal contempt for destroying documents, manufacturing evidence and other misconduct in civil litigation against the Associated Press regarding his world-renowned “Hope” poster.