Manipulator, scoundrel, propaganda boss, provocateur, Shepard Fairey is the man many hail as the creator of the scene of the modern urban art and an undeniable phenomenon.
First rising to fame in 1989 with his now ubiquitous sticker campaign 'Obey Giant', the self-styled phenomenologist has since become one of the most recognized artists of the early 2000s.
His work, a mixture of parody and protest, serves to subvert the very medium to which he adheres, and it is in this way that he has created his paper posters that adorn billboards, and which, in his own words, "market the nothing," while stirring up the bewildered masses.
His unique use of stencils, collage, photography, and painting have led to collaborations with, among others, DJ Shadow, Interpol, Smashing Pumpkins, as well as poster art for the biopic of Johnny Cash, 'Walk the Line'.
Born in 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina, Shepard defines himself as a street artist, graphic designer, activist, illustrator and founder of OBEY Clothing American, who grew out of the skateboarding scene.
attended the Idyllwild Academy of the Arts en Palm Springs, Calif. and first became known for his sticker campaign "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (OBEY) while attending the Rhode Island School of Design, where he obtained his Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1992. He currently lives and works in The Angels, California.
It was at 2008 when Shepard Fairey rose to fame among the general public by creating, illegitimately, the already world-famous poster of Barack Obama What read HOPE in red and blue colors. While this was not an official promotion, Shepard claims that the Obama campaign contacted him to change the word PROGRESS, which was originally on the sign, and thus put the word HOPE in its place.
It has undoubtedly been the most successful presidential campaign poster of all time.
While they were unable to officially recognize the sign even there, campaign officials tried to make the most of every initiative. Since then, everything has gone uphill for Fairey. She now exhibits in many contemporary art museums and sells her limited edition prints in minutes.
With her art, Fairey blurs the line between traditional and commercial art. through typography and image, communicating his brand of social criticism through prints, murals, stickers and posters in public spaces.
Since then, Fairey has exhibited internationally at institutions such as the Seoul Center for the Arts, Seoul, South Korea; CAC Malaga Museum, Malaga, Spain; the Halsey Institute for Contemporary Art, Charleston, SC, USA; The Public Trust, Dallas, TX, USA, Center for Contemporary Art (CAC), Cincinnati, OH, USA, Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA, USA; and the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston, MA, USA. In 2017, she won the Art Wynwood Tony Goldman Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award. Works by her are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), New York, NY, USA; the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK; Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC, USA; the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA, USA; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA, USA; and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA, USA, among others.
