Looking at the Masters: Shepard Fairey

Frank Shepard Fairey (b.1970, Charleston, SC) is an artist, activist, and entrepreneur.  He completed a BA (1992) in illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. Fairey first came to public notice while a student with his sticker campaign “ANDRE THE GIANT HAS A POSSE” (1989). He posted the stickers everywhere: “At first, I was only thinking about the response from my clique of art school and skateboard friends. The fact that a larger segment of the public would not only notice, but investigate, the unexplained appearance of the stickers was something I had not contemplated. When I started to see reactions and consider the sociological forces at work surrounding the use of public space and the insertion of a very eye-catching but ambiguous image, I began to think there was the potential to create a phenomenon.”

Andre the Giant (Andre Rene Roussinoff) was 7’4’’ tall and weighed 520 pounds. He was a world-class professional wrestler. One million “ANDRE THE GIANT HAS A POSSE” stickers were distributed world-wide. Fairey quickly produced thousands of posters with just Andre’s face and text OBEY. That led to his OBEY clothing line of T-shirts and silkscreen stickers. 

Fairey established OBEY Clothing in 2001 to support his humanitarian efforts. One hundred percent of the profits from the clothing line went to several charities, including Hope for Darfur, Feed America, earthquake relief in Haiti, Adopt-a Pet, Dark Wave/Rising Sun for Japan relief, and Alaskan Wildlife Relief. Fairey also was commissioned to design album covers for the Black- Eyed Peas and Smashing Pumpkins, among others, and movie posters for the Johnny Cash film “Walk the Line.” During these early years, Fairey also was offered several exhibitions by galleries and museums.

Fairey’s poster “HOPE” (2008) brought him greater fame. He created a series of posters supporting Barack Obama for US President, unknown to the Obama campaign. Fairey produced and distributed 300,000 stickers and 500,000 posters.  Peter Schyeldahl, art critic for The New Yorker, called the poster “the most efficacious American political illustration since Uncle Sam Wants You.” The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, purchased the portrait for its collection in 2009. TIME, Esquire, and GQ published articles about Fairey and the poster. Fairey donated the proceeds to the ACLU and Feed America.

In a letter dated February 22, 2008, Barack Obama thanked Fairey: “I would like to thank you for using your talent in support of my campaign. The political messages involved in your work have encouraged Americans to believe they can change the status quo. Your images have a profound effect on people, whether seen in a gallery or on a stop sign. I am privileged to be a part of your artwork and proud to have your support. I wish you continued success and creativity.”

Fairey used without permission a photograph taken by Mannie Garcia. He pleaded guilty to one count of criminal contempt because he had destroyed the evidence. He was sentenced to two years’ probation and fined $25,000. Fairey has been arrested for defacing public property and vandalism. He paid court costs and fees, and now coordinates with individuals who are subjects in his posters. Time Magazine named him Person of the Year for “HOPE” and two other posters “Arab Spring” and “Occupy Wall Street” (2011).

The Advertising Council of America and Fairey partnered to create posters for Feeding America in 2010. He also created posters for the ACLU in 2010.

Fairey was commissioned to paint the mural “Nelson Mandela” (2014) on Juta Street in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, painted on the top nine stories of the building. The mural overlooks the Nelson Mandela Bridge. Patrick Gaspard, the American Ambassador to South Africa, described it as “a huge exclamation point downtown which makes us remember the entire liberation struggle and the remarkably peaceful transition to freedom Nelson Mandela achieved.” The mural is one of several Fairey has been commissioned to paint. 

Fairey began in 2016 a poster campaign titled “WE THE PEOPLE,” inspired by the opening words of the Preamble to the US Constitution. The images were of a Native American, an African American, a Muslim, and a Latina. The posters were each 30”x40.” This image of “WE THE PEOPLE” combines three of the posters into one that could be downloaded for a donation of $25 to support the cause of equality. On Inauguration Day 2017, a large group of people paraded across the Capitol grounds and carried “WE THE PEOPLE” posters into the streets, hung them in windows, and pasted them on walls. Rallies with the posters continued through 2017. 

The posters include both images and text: a Muslim woman, wearing an American flag as a hijab, and the words ARE GREATER THAN FEAR, an African American with the words PROTECT EACH OTHER, and the Latina with the words DEFEND DIGNITY. Not included here is a poster with the image of an American Indian and the words WE THE RESILIENT HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE. “WE THE PEOPLE” posters also were carried during the 2017 Women’s March. Fairey stated, “I’ve presented a counterargument to what I consider some of the monolithic forces of oppression that most people feel powerless to do anything about.”

One of Fairey’s poster series, “FLOWER POWER,” depicted oil wells spouting flowers, not oil. Fairey supports the transition from fossil fuels. “MOTHER NATURE ON THE RUN” (2020) (stencil) (12”x9’’) was part of Fairey’s Mother Nature series. A large, ripe orange with healthy green leaves is ready for picking. The orange is a hand grenade. Fairey also included his iconic word OBEY. The image is intended to protest the genetic modification of fruits and vegetables by corporations for their profit. Fairey believed “every day should be Earth Day. We are part of nature, not above it, and when we don’t treat our home well, it will eventually not treat us well. We (powerful corporations especially) are behaving like the earth is indestructible…and it isn’t!”

 

Fairey and his crew painted the mural “WHILE SUPPLIES LAST” (2022) in the East quarter of Dallas, Texas, on Commerce and Cesar Chavez roads. A frequent motif in Fairey’s works is flowers, which he regards as a “symbol of positive growth and harmony.” Four colorful flowers with decorative stems are painted across the mural, with the face of a female environmental activist on the right side. At the lower left corner is what looks to be an advertisement WHILE SUPPLIES LAST. Fairey explains, “Whatever you treasure from nature, protect it so the supply is renewable.” The mural was painted in three days in September. The temperature was in the high 90’s.  

“I consider myself a populist artist. I want to reach people through as many different platforms as possible. Street art is a bureaucracy-free way of reaching people, but T-shirts, stickers, commercial jobs, the Internet–there are so many different ways that I use to put my work in front of people.” (Shepard Fairey)

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Beverly Hall Smith was a professor of art history for 40 years. Since retiring to Chestertown with her husband Kurt in 2014, she has taught art history classes at WC-ALL and the Institute of Adult Learning, Centreville. An artist, she sometimes exhibits work at River Arts. She also paints sets for the Garfield Theater in Chestertown.