Ministry -Shepard Fairey – My florist is a dick

Shepard Fairey – My florist is a dick

When you perform at The Simpsons and Black Sabbath asks you to make a commercial poster for them, you’ve already reached a level of fame that seems almost unrealistic. Shepard Fairey, an icon of the American contemporary art scene. He is best known for his Obey Giant artworks and the subsequent Obey series, which have found their place on T-shirts, skateboards, posters, walls, and even clothing. This series eventually spread the artist’s name throughout the U.S. and around the world. His pieces are thoughtful and often controversial. Nevertheless, Fairey remains one of the world’s most famous artists, whose works are likely to inspire generations.

His life:

Frank Shepard Fairey was born and raised in Charleston, South Carolina. He graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration. Fairey became involved with art in 1984 when he began placing his drawings on skateboards and T-shirts. His first major work was the reproduction of black and white pictures by wrestler Andre ‘The Giant’ Roussimoff.

Andre the Giant Has a Posse is a street art campaign based on a design by Fairey created in 1989 in Providence, Rhode Island. The stickers with a picture of André the Giant distributed by the skater community appeared in many cities in the USA. At the time, Fairey declared the campaign “an experiment in phenomenology. Over time, the artwork has been reused in various ways and has spread worldwide.

Fairey changed the work stylistically and semantically into the OBEY Giant. This was also to become an icon in Shepard Fairey’s career, especially in the follow-ups, which contained the word “obedience”. In a manifesto he wrote in 1990, he links his work to Heidegger’s concept of phenomenology. His “Obey” campaign is based on the John Carpenter film They Live, in which pro-wrestler Roddy Piper played the leading role and adopted a number of his slogans, including the “Obey” slogan and the slogan “This is Your God”. Fairey also removed the OBEY collection from the original sticker campaign.

OBEY

The sticker campaign “Obey” was a phenomenological experiment. Shepard Fairey says: “The “Obey” campaign had no meaning except to get people to react, think and search for meaning. The aim was to provoke people by distancing words with images that normally have a motive.

Moreover, OBEY Clothing was founded in 2001 as an extension of Shepard’s activities. In line with his populist views, clothing became another canvas to convey his art and message to people. The clothing is strongly inspired by classic military design, the basics of workwear, and the elements and cultural movements on which Shepard’s art career is based. Through designers Mike Ternosky and Erin Wignall, Shepard works on designs that represent his influences, ideals and philosophy.

In addition to launching his own art campaigns, Fairey selects commercial work and designs album art, skateboards, movie posters and apparel. Examples of his commercial work include designs for the Black Eyed Peas album covers for “Elephunk” and “Monkey Business”.

Shepard Fairey and Barack Obama

During the 2008 presidential election, Fairey’s poster of Barack Obama achieved the rare feat of becoming a visual symbol of a moment in American history. Obama, of course, won the election. The first Obama poster produced by Fairey showed a portrait of Obama with the word “progress” below. At first, the official Obama fighters stayed away from the poster, but eventually accepted it and asked Fairey to produce two revised versions. The first replaced the word “progress” with “change” and the second with the word “vote”.

Shepard Fairey lives and works in Los Angeles.