Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey: Building a Brand through Art Activism
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Frank Shepard Fairey is an artist who specializes in graphics and the owner of the famous clothing line, Obey. He was born in 1970 in Charleston and holds a Bachelor of Fine arts from RISD. Shepard Fairey initially came to public attention when he designed a sticker with a picture of the professional wrestler André the Giant and the word Obey. Shepard Fairey presently resides and does his business in Los Angeles, California, through his Studio Number One.
What Shepard Fairey is Known for.
Shepard Fairey’s artworks combine entrepreneurial drive with street art advocacy. By using type and imagery, Shepard Fairey blurs the lines between traditional and commercial art. Shepard Fairey art expresses a unique social critique through prints, murals, stickers, and posters in public places.
Screenprints, drawings, tags, grain paste, concealing film images, scrapbooks, carvings, and banners have all been incorporated into Shepard Fairey art. Black, white, and red are Shepard Fairey’s favourite colours to use in his artwork, and he frequently switches back and forth between artwork, street life art, advertising material, and ideological art.
Shepard Fairey Artworks: Most Important Works.
Perhaps the most well-known Shepard Fairey artworks is the propaganda poster: the “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker which ultimately became the “Obey Giant” campaign. Shepard Fairey is further known for the Hope (2008) campaign, which features a red, white, and blue picture of Barack Obama, who was running for president at the time. In response to the xenophobic rhetoric of then-candidate Donald Trump, the artist produced a set of three posters in 2017 that featured photographs of women from various cultural backgrounds and once more used the red, white, and blue colour scheme. The Peace Elephant (2011), Facing the Giant, and Purple Project are further examples of Shepard Fairey art.
Shepard Fairey Exhibitions.
Successful solo and group exhibitions by Shepard Fairey have taken place all around the world. One of the highlights of the year 2019 was his single art show, Facing the Giant, 3 Decades of Dissent, which examined the last three decades of his work and was shown in Grenoble, New York City, Paris, Canada, England, Providence, as well as Los Angeles. Throughout the artist’s profession, themes like consciousness, revolution, abuse of authority, ecological pollution, racial prejudice, gender bias, as well as xenophobia have repeatedly been addressed in the pieces that were chosen.
Shepard Fairey as part of the Contemporary Art World.
Shepard Fairey is one of the most important and well-known street artists and has a significant role in the development of Contemporary Urban Art. His street campaigns are extensive and numerous, with some inspiring global cultural movements. By blending parody, subversion, and dissent, his posters, stickers, and murals aim to blur the lines between classical and commercial art while challenging preconceived ideals of public space and acceptable behavior. He has also established himself as a graphic artist in the political and business worlds, with his creations appearing in a handful of highly renowned campaigns.
Available Shepard Fairey Works.
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