Shepard FAIREY:street art, a new beginning?

OBEY’s crowning as an official artist is certainly going to have huge consequences on general institutional orders and therefore also on pop-street-art… Which also means that street-culture is going to change.

Barack OBAMA’s election came as a huge historical landmark. Although everyone is now keeping their fingers crossed the election will lead to something more concrete than a simple promise of new hope and a marketing celebration of change, our focus has been on the artistic dimension of the campaign. Indeed, something unheard of is happening as I write. Shepard FAIREY aka OBEY who, on his own initiative designed an entire viral campaign around Barack OBAMA portrait is about to go from street artist to official artist of the new American administration.

The most amazing thing in this truly extraordinary story, is that nothing in OBEY’s background or style predestined him to getting such a promotion.

First and foremost, Shepard FAIREY is a true street artist. He started his career in 1989 in PROVIDENCE, Rhode Island. In order to pay his tuition fees he worked in a skate shop were he used his skills and whatever he could lay his hands on to make t-shirts, stickers, etc. To show a skater friend how easy it was to screen-print things, he found a picture of the famous 80’s wrestler ANDRE THE GIANT and used the magazine picture to create a stencil he then went on to create stickers with: the now famous ANDRE THE GIANT HAS A POSSE was born. The artist then started to gain viral success as people started to photocopy his stickers to cover skateparks, car bumpers, etc. After using the ANDRE THE GIANT picture as a stencil, OBEY would then make it into a poster in 1993, changing his entire style at the same time by sticking his paper creations on walls all around him. To stay clear of judicial trouble FAIREY would pass his posters for promotion for musical artists and would never admit to it being art for fear of being identified as a graffiti artist and therefore more heavily fined. After New York, OBEY started to invade the streets of San Francisco, Los Angeles or San Diego. In 1995 he would sign his creations with the word OBEY for the first time. His artist name is inspired by John Carpenter’s “Invasion LOS ANGELES (They live)” and is a way for him to reject the consumer society surrounding him all the while inspiring everyone to decrypt the messages we are sent on a daily basis; OBEY also as a wake up call to people who don’t realise they are acting as nice and disciplined people, unwittingly slaves to the orders they are given. Shepard FAIREY has always declared himself close to the HEIDEGGER philosophy and phenomenology, the art of awakening our sense of questioning our environment. He would then later choose to diversify his artistic support by creating his own brand: OBEY CLOTHING which is basically just another means of communicating his art.

Shepard FAIREY’s detournement of ex-USSR propaganda messages and styles in his works to communicate his own messages quickly became one of his major traits. From the very first day, he was a socially conscious artist, always one to point the finger at social injustice, he constantly attracts the public’s eye with his bold style based on 3 colours: red, black and white, the most visual colours according to the artist himself.

Today, OBEY, who wasn’t the most hardcore or even the most expensive of street artist is reaching all new heights thanks to Barack OBAMA’s election. The poster OBEY created a few days before SUPER TUESDAY was quickly picked up by internet and soon became more popular than any picture of the official campaign. The soon-to-be president’s campaign team then turned to the artist and asked if they could use the poster for the campaign. FAIREY would then go on to send and stick it everywhere. His creation is so efficient and balanced that it is adopted by political websites as well as street culture blogs. OBEY would obtain real acknowledgment after OBAMA went on to win the election: FAIREY’s presidential portrait would make its way into the NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY of the prestigious and extremely formal SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION (the American equivalent of our Louvre, which manages 19 different US national museums). The very first official portrait of the new President recognised by the biggest national cultural institution is the work of a street artist. Pop-art and street-art mingling with traditional pictures and codes. It’s extremely impressive and it may be a sign of more changes to come (we hope) with Barack OBAMA’s inauguration. Try to imagine French artists JR or WK being exposed in the LOUVRE next to The Mona Lisa and other Dutch painters, try to imagine their interpretation of President SARKOZY’s portrait hanged on walls in French institutions! This is a huge landmark in an artistic culture more often considered as vandalism than creative genius.

This huge artistic event is also going to change the way street artist are considered for the years to come. If contemporary art had already shocked the crowds by selling works by KAWS, FUTURA, JAY ONE, etc for huge amounts of money, in a way bringing these underground artists into the spotlight, OBEY’s crowning as an official artist is certainly going to have huge consequences on general institutional orders and therefore also on pop-street-art… Which also means that street-culture is going to change. A page is about to turn…

Street-culture is becoming more and more essential but first and foremost it’s becoming less and less underground. Most marketing processes are making use of sneaker culture, street wear and street art. That’s obviously good (economical) news, but is it a niche and elitist culture’s aim and destiny to become a popular and global reference? And will this culture know how to manage this new-found fame? From the underground straight into the spotlight… A tricky experience, and the theme of this new and exciting year…

Traduction : SEB 2T

Images : supertouch art (smithsonian pics), obey official website