Obey Giant

Shepard x Glen E Friedman x Jim Muir

2009-11-18T19:49:39Z

This print collaboration between Shepard, Glen, and Jim was created to help Jim with his injuries. Percentage of proceeds will go towards support Jim and his medical bills. Edition of 450, S/N by Shepard, Glen E Friedman, and Jim Muir, $80. On Sale 11/19 at Random, Limit 1.

Here are some words from Glen about the Jim and the collaboration:

“It’s been a long time in the making, since my old good friend, original Z-Boy, “Red Dog” nearly killed himself in a surfing accident earlier in the year. Here’s what happened. There was a benefit auction back in August, unfortunately we were not able to get this poster together in time, but here it finally is, as well there will be a one off fine art piece done by Shepard to be sold to the highest bidder at his next gallery exhibition, where 100% of the proceeds will go to Jim. For now we’ve got these great posters, which i’ve got to say is probably my favorite collaboration we’ve done to date (the others of Public Enemy, Tony Alva, and the Bad Brains, were great no doubt, but i feel this is the most beautiful of them all).

I first mentioned Jim’s injuries and beginning recovery here in April. His injuries include two crushed vertebrae, C6 and C7, and a fracture to C5. On March 15th he underwent emergency surgery to fuse C6 and C7 vertebrae with a spacer, cadaver bone, two titanium straps and four screws.”

“Good news is his recovery is going along fantastically. Although he’s getting around now he still can not go back to work yet, so the help we know is appreciated.”
- GEF

Love Unites x Charity Buzz

2009-11-18T18:18:55Z

Continuing the effort to campaign for equal rights, the Love Unites x Shepard Fairey Project featuring an Auction of celebrity customized Love Unites screenprints can NOW be viewed and bid on. Check out the link below and bid on your favorite celebrity screenprint.

http://www.charitybuzz.com/auctions/ShepardFairey

Also when you have a minute take a look at the “Love Unites Remix” contest on Deviant Art. There are already over 600 entries! http://www.deviantart.com/?catpath=contests/2009/loveunites&order=9#order=5

Jim Muir Print

2009-11-18T17:55:03Z

Edition of 450, S/N by Shepard, Glen E Friedman, and Jim Muir, $80
Percentage of proceeds will go towards support Jim’s medical bills
On Sale 11/19 at Random, Limit 1

Shepard x Post-Gazette x Pittsburgh

2009-11-12T18:58:08Z

If you live in Pittsburgh (or the area) and haven’t had the chance to check out Shepard’s 20 year survey of his artwork being exhibited at the Andy Warhol Museum, read this review from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It might spark some inspiration to skip a Steelers game and take a walk to the Warhol. Click the link below to read the full article.

Article: Fairey shows his potential for Warhol legacy

Fairey shows his potential for Warhol legacy
Art review
Monday, October 26, 2009
By Mary Thomas, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

You may not recognize artist Shepard Fairey’s name, but chances are you’ve seen his imagery.

During the presidential election, his Obama/HOPE poster catapulted him into mainstream attention, as has his ongoing legal tussle with the Associated Press over fair use of images.

If you’re a hipster, you may know his Andre the Giant/OBEY stickers that have, since their inception two decades ago, spread globally onto lamp posts, skateboards and other sites.

And you might have seen one of the politically charged posters he wheat-pasted on walls around Pittsburgh in August and earlier this month. A couple of those murals are mounted on a building across the street from The Andy Warhol Museum, where an exhibition of 250 of his works, “Shepard Fairey: Supply and Demand,” opened Oct. 17.

The exhibition, which originated at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston, and spans his career, gives evidence that Fairey is more than a one-pop phenomenon by showing the body of work that positioned him to become a presence in the last presidential race.

While there’s no shortage of artists making political statements, Fairey stands out by combining underground rebelliousness with a sophisticated grasp of the power of image to inspire and to effect change, command of graphic design, prodigious output, and inventive ways of getting his message/work out.

Fairey, 39 and a resident of Los Angeles, grew up on a traditional family in Charleston, S.C. His father had been a football team captain and his mother a head cheerleader, and Fairey participated in sports at the private schools he attended.

His discovery of a skateboard community expressed itself through stickers and homemade T-shirts, and his appreciation of punk rock lyrics made him begin to question values he’d taken for granted. He decided to pursue art at the Rhode Island School of Design.

In the summer after his freshman year, Fairey was working for $4 an hour at a skateboard shop when a friend asked him how to make a stencil. As a joke, Fairey selected as subject the wrestler Andre the Giant, and convinced the skateboarder group to embrace Giant stickers by assigning him cool attributes such as “a posse.”

Interest in the streamlined image, to Fairey’s bemusement, snowballed and soon fans carried the Giant beyond Providence and the U.S. shores, pre-Internet, through what Fairey calls a “hipster chain letter.” Fairey also began pasting larger incarnations on the streets.

While at school, Fairey noticed a lack of interest in sociopolitical issues and wondered whether he could capitalize upon his Giant’s popularity to raise awareness. Fueled by influences as varied as philosophic studies, art movements like situationism, the psychology of advertising, and the B-movie “They Live” that featured mind-controlling aliens, Fairey incorporated the word OBEY into the simultaneously threatening and laughable image.

Thus was born the literal poster child for his two ongoing themes: Question everything and self-empowerment (he points to the distribution of his image — his brand, in essence — achieved on a minimum wage rather than a corporate budget).

Though the foundation, the Giant was just the beginning.

A potent wall of 88 prints, made in separate editions for sale to collectors and to paste on the streets, in turn rail against conformity or quietly challenge stereotypes. For example, a grimacing Western woman surrounded by the words “OBEY with Caution, Blind Acceptance Can Be Hazardous,” and a serene Arab woman with “OBEY Peace.” Many are in Fairey’s trademark red, black and white palette, reflecting influences ranging from Russian Constructivism to feminist artist Barbara Kruger.

The phrases escape being trite through highly charged formal compositions and contextualization within a larger, continuing body of work, reminiscent somewhat of Jenny Holzer’s early methodology.

Elsewhere, figures speak for themselves through the power vested by history, such as Martin Luther King and Mao. Other prints decry wars, past and present. Fairey says he has opinions rather than answers, and declares neutrality, claiming that he presents subjects, whether civil rights leaders or dictators, who are worth investigation but not necessarily adulation.

At times he tweaks his viewers, as in a series of Black Power images that includes Angela Davis and Jesse Jackson, but also a “Giant Nubian” who’s “just a guy from a ’70s haircut book,” Fairey says, though people continually try to identify the image as a specific Black Panther. The lesson is that symbol supersedes individuals.

He does allow that he became more specifically political after Iraq and the second George Bush election win, and considered taking action a responsibility. “I very much believe in democracy, and I’m a patriot,” Fairey says.

Tellingly the now famous painting of then-candidate Barack Obama hangs between two large, mixed-media works, one patterned on a stock certificate and the other on a dollar bill, that address the “Two Sides of Capitalism,” the “Good” and the “Bad.”

A critique of capitalism may seem somewhat incongruous from someone who employs 22 full-time staff, sells his artworks on an OBEY web site, has a fashion line, and runs the advertising agency Studio Number One with clients ranging from Saks Fifth Avenue to Red Bull. But it’s only one of the boundaries Fairey straddles.

There is a case to be made for Fairey as a claimant to Warhol’s legacy, making this venue particularly pertinent. He shares the commercial art, underground and fine arts worlds that Warhol broached; interest in contemporary events; appropriation of media imagery; exploration of techniques; a traditional background that exerts a push-pull upon his interests; and an insider-outsider status and strategy.

Thus, this exhibition is as much about potential as it is a survey of the artist’s past. Based on what’s here, the odds that he will justify such a claim are pretty high.

Shepard x Henry Rollins x KCRW

2009-11-12T18:42:47Z

Shepard will be guest hosting for Henry Rollins on KCRW this Saturday, 11/14 from 6pm – 8pm. Don’t miss this broadcast as Shep always steps up to match to the incredible sounds picked by Rollins.

http://www.kcrw.com/music/programs/hr

Shepard x L.E.A.D. Uganda

2009-11-11T21:19:07Z

Stephen Shames, and his art dealer, Steven Kasher, approached Shepard Fairey earlier this year about creating artworks to support L.E.A.D. Uganda, an educational leadership program founded by Shames that locates vulnerable children with innate talents and molds them into leaders.

Fairey agreed to create and donate two unique mixed media collages, valued at $12,000 each, and two editions of 450 prints, which sell for $75 each. The collages and prints will be auctioned off on November 12 at the Steven Kasher Gallery, 521 West 23rd Street, New York, along with works by other noted photographers, among them Joyce Tenneson, Dan Winters, Michal Chelbin, and Lynn Bianchi. The Fairey prints are based on Uganda photographs by Stephen Shames. Fairey had previously created a suite of works based on Shames’ iconic portrait of Angela Davis, which is in the National Portrait Gallery. Fairey received acclaim for his iconic poster of President Obama. THE PRINTS ARE ON SALE NOW at www.leaduganda.org

ART AUCTION TO RAISE FUNDS FOR L.E.A.D UGANDA
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12 , 6:30 PM
Steven Kasher Gallery, New York

“My work is about trying to make striking, provocative images that can lead people to take an interest in social issues that I care about – whether it is what is going on in Darfur or Uganda or any other form of injustice that is happening around the world,” said Shepard Fairey. “When Stephen talked to me about his foundation, I thought this is an incredible mission. If I can help raise money for L.E.A.D. Uganda, and also have the chance to make some beautiful artwork based on Stephen’s compelling photographs – this is a very symbiotic situation.”

“I have long admired Shepard’s work and commitment to social justice. I am delighted to collaborate with him to help our children,” said Stephen Shames. “I’d like to thank Shepard and all the photographers who donated prints to the auction, for their generosity. Their support makes it possible for L.E.A.D Uganda’s children to attend the best schools, where they earn high marks and gain self-esteem. Our scholars experience the healing and transforming powers of education. They will become leaders in the country they love. They will help Africa and the world.”

L.E.A.D Uganda, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this year, locates children living on the edges of society – AIDS orphans, former child soldiers, child laborers – and gives them the world class, 21st century skills necessary to lead Africa into the future. The goal is to help Africans become equal partners in a world of democracy and prosperity. All proceeds from the event will go towards the education L.E.A.D Uganda’s students.

This event is open to the public and admission is free. Stephen Magezi, Deputy Director of L.E.A.D Uganda in Kampala, Uganda will speak briefly about L.E.A.D Uganda. There will be music by saxophonist Hayes Greenfield. Steve Shames will sign copies of his new book Transforming Lives: Turning Uganda’s Forgotten Children Into Leader (Star Bright Books). The book tells the inspirational stories of thirteen children in the program.

Contact: Andrea Smith, 646.220.5950, andrea@leaduganda.org

Stephen Shames photo “Blanket” Stephen Shames photo “Yellow Cans”

Click here to read more about L.E.A.D Uganda

Burmese Monk Print

2009-11-10T18:37:16Z

Edition of 450, S/N, 18 x 24, $45
On Sale 11/12 at Random, Limit 1

Juxtapoz 15th Anniversary Auction

2009-11-09T19:11:44Z

Art Auction
Oct 28 – Nov 20, 2009
http://www.charitybuzz.com/auctions/juxtapoz/catalog_items
Shepard’s piece:
http://www.charitybuzz.com/auctions/juxtapoz/catalog_items/1052084

15th Anniversary Exhibition
Nov 14th, 2009, 7 – 11pm
Factory Place Arts Complex
1330 Factory Place, Bldg A
Los Angeles, CA 90013
TO RSVP: rsvp@sastudiosglobal.com

More info is at www.juxtapoz.com/auction

Love Unites Sticker Poster

2009-11-09T18:41:40Z

Sticker Robot is going to release the Love Unites Sticker Posters Thursday 11.12. at http://stickerobot.com. The sticker posters will Signed by Shepard and numbered in an Edition of 200 and measure 18 x 27 inches. Proceeds go towards marriage equality.

Shepard Fairey x Globaloop

2009-11-06T23:31:42Z

Here are a few links to Shepard’s video feature on the Globaloop show, part of Karmaloop TV. Shep talks about art, activism, and Burma – Check them out and look out for Globaloop on KarmaloopTV.com.

Shepard: http://www.karmaloop.com/tv/?ep=45968580001

Burma: http://www.karmaloop.com/tv/?ep=47095486001&pos=rc&query=globaloop

KARMALOOPTV LAUNCHES GLOBALOOP
- A Politically Inspired Show Presented In An Entertaining Way -

New York, NY (October 2009) – KarmaloopTV.com, the world’s leading online channel for all things related to streetwear lifestyle and culture, is now launching a vibrant, political show called Globaloop dedicated to fostering awareness of domestic and international social, political and cultural issues. Targeting the 18-24 demographic, Globaloop aims to build and focus on this group’s active idealism by presenting topics in a compelling manner with a fast paced format and appearances by relevant icons in music, art and fashion.