Frank Shepard Fairey was born in Charleston, South Carolina; Fairey had a reasonably comfortable childhood. He attended the Idyllwild Arts Academy and the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1992. A longtime skateboarder, Shepard easily became absorbed in the world of street art, and while he was still attending school, he began experimenting with using stickers on stop signs and walls.
Controversy, Copyrights and Graffiti
Shepard Fairey is a polarizing figure in the world of street art. His major works have made as much of an impact as the works of Space Invader and Banksy, although Fairey does not hide his face or change his voice when appearing on camera. His art is distinctly political, and Fairey frequently supports social causes and opposes corporate influence. He also profits off his most popular anti-corporate pieces, which angers some of his contemporaries.
OBEY: Street Art Goes Viral
In 1989, Fairey made his first major viral work, although at the time concepts like "viral" didn't exist in relation to art. Fairey created an image simple and confusing enough to spread rapidly across the United States through word-of-mouth and an untold number of sticker sheets. "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" was a portrait of wrestler and actor Andre the Giant with a scrawled message next to the Giant's head. Fairey had no political purpose in mind when designing the image, simply hoping to inspire his viewers to think about their surroundings. He soon removed all of the color from the image and wrote "OBEY" in a stylized font beneath it, borrowing the slogan from John Carpenter's anti-authority horror movie, "They Live!"
OBEY caught on, and within a few years, Fairey's stickers were on stop signs, walls and college campuses across the United States. The more the OBEY message spread, the more importance people attributed to the perceived message of resistance and purposeful opposition to corporations, politicians and authority figures. "It gains real power from perceived power," Fairey said later.
The lack of a coherent meaning was a fundamental part of Fairey's early work. "Question everything." Fairey said when asked about the messages behind his images. As vague as this may seem to the uninitiated, the message resonated with the urban art community; OBEY became arguably the most ubiquitous, infamous street image of the 1990s.
In 2008, it seemed as though Fairey would never have a press interview that described him as anything but the creator of the OBEY sticker. Fairey probably wouldn't have minded that fate-many artists struggle in obscurity their entire lives without creating a single well-known piece, and OBEY's popularity had exceeded his wildest dreams. However, he was about to introduce his most successful and controversial work to date.
Fairey created a number of posters for Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, using stylized portraits of the Senator with words like "Progress," "Hope," "Change" and "Vote" displayed across the bottom in large letters. The posters spread and were parodied by conservatives and embraced by Obama's supporters. Talking heads on TV debated the significance of the portrait and Obama himself sent Fairey a note of thanks. The 2008 election was one of the most viciously contested in recent history, and Fairey's image undoubtedly had some effect on the result. Some cities, including Obama's home city of Chicago, put up hundreds of copies. The Smithsonian even obtained a copy of the portrait for their permanent collection.
Almost overnight, Fairey was one of the biggest names in contemporary art.
Politics As Usual
In light of the HOPE poster's success, Fairey stepped up his production, creating inflammatory, politically charged posters that criticized the status quo and corporate culture.
He was building his own Posse of dedicated fans faster than ever before, and Shepard was conscious of his new status as a counterculture celebrity. He supported the Occupy Movement in 2011, changing his Obama portrait to challenge the President directly.
Fairey also created posters to support causes, most notably the charity efforts in Haiti through Artists for Peace and Justice.
In 2011, Fairey's art graced the cover of Time Magazine's Person of the Year issue. His stylized portrait of an Occupy protester helped the movement continue to build strength in the face of waning public support.
Financially, Shepard was doing well. He displayed his art in numerous exhibitions starting with the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art and quickly proceeding to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and numerous other venues around the world. He appeared as a character on The Simpsons and spun records at clubs under the moniker DJ Diabetic. Fairey was rapidly becoming America's most famous and influential artist until a lawsuit threw his career into serious jeopardy.