People who hate Shepard Fairey are morons
Here we go. Another Shepard Fairey show, another divisive debate over who hates him, who loves him, and who respects him. I fall into the latter category. I like his work, but after a while it feels a tad formulaic. Every now and then, a new piece comes out that I’m all about, but usually I can take it or leave it (although, admittedly, I don’t always know the full details of the backstory behind the piece).
The guy is sort of an expert on portraiture. Like many other great artists of today and centuries ago, it is a great honor to have him create a portrait of you. He now tends to do art that is driven by some kind of cause, whether it is political (American or otherwise) or for some kind of non-profit organization. If that’s enough for you to hate him, check yourself first. Fairey is drawing awareness to things he believes in through his art – he puts a lot of himself out there for people to judge. I can’t say I agree with all of his platforms, but I have a lot of respect him for putting it out there.
The real problem seems to be the view that he’s a sell-out. Please, take your hipster bullshit out of the scene. Shep spent the better part of the past 20 years building his brand from the ground up, from his simple yet infamous sticker campaign to large murals wheatpasted up throughout the world. He’s well aware of the storm of opinions he stirs up. In his own words,
“Because I’m straddling the line between all these different worlds – the fine art world, the street art world, commercial design, fashion – I think I’m a target for a lot of narrow-minded people who just aren’t comfortable with my multi-platform approach.”
The difference between me, you, and Shepard is that he is a highly sought after artist recieving high-profile commissions, where mine and yours are much smaller. Whether it’s the poster he just did for the 2010 Grammy Awards, book covers for 1984 and Animal House, the Walk the Line Poster, or the cover of the Smashing Pumpkins latest album, he does a lot of largely circulated commercial imagery. And the Obama “Hope” poster he created that really got everyone jocking him? He did that on his own – the Democratic party contacted him after it was created to use the work for Obama’s campaign, at which point it was widely distributed. Many people believe he was initially commissioned for this piece, which he was not. Again, simply doing what he believes in.
Last week, he finished up a mural in Manhattan for his May Day show coming up this weekend to close out Deitch Projects. Unfortunately (and unsurprisingly), the mural was quickly vandalized by some disrespectful kid looking for a cut of the fame – whether you like the artist or not, going over is pretty senseless. It’s also very strange to see his work behind police tape in an investigation, when he’s been the subject of a lot of litigation over the past year (arrest in Boston, AP photo infringement).
On a more positive note, some artists with a lot of credibility stepped forward to offer their support and respect. COPE2, EWOK, and INDIE hit up the side of the wall, a nice show of support from some big names in the scene (COPE2 and Shep also did a mural in the Bronx, more on that here via 12oz Prophet).
Point of this long rant is that you might not like all (or even any) of his work, but at least give the guy the respect he deserves. He’s still a huge part of the scene despite his success (also one of the key figures in actually creating the modern scene as it exists today) and he’s a great philanthropist . People that know me might be surprised to know that he’s certainly not my favorite artist (probably not even in the top ten), just like Notorious B.I.G. might not be your favorite rapper. However, he deserves a lot of respect for being a pioneer and is one of the grandfathers of street art. And because of that, he probably understands it all better than you or I do anyway.
“If that’s how they express their view is by vandalizing my mural, that’s fair. I assume that they think that putting a bullet hole through it is a clever interactive addition, which I actually agree with.”
-Shepard Fairey
