Shepard Fairey Biography
Born Feb 15 1970, Charleston, South Carolina, USA.
graphic designer
Fairey created the "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign in 1989, while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). This later evolved into the "Obey Giant" campaign, which has grown via an international network of collaborators replicating Fairey's original designs. In a manifesto he wrote in 1990, and since posted on his website, he links his work with Heidegger's concept of phenomenology. His "Obey" Campaign draws from the John Carpenter movie "They Live" which starred pro wrestler Roddy Piper, taking a number of its slogans, including the "Obey" slogan, as well as the "This is Your God" slogan. Fairey has also spun off the OBEY clothing line from the original sticker campaign. He also uses the slogan "The Medium is the Message" borrowed from Marshall McLuhan.
Fairey graduated from RISD in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in illustration. After graduation, he founded a small printing business in Providence, RI called Alternate Graphics, specializing in tshirt and sticker silkscreens, which afforded Fairey the ability to continue pursuing his own artwork. While residing in Providence in 1994, Fairey met American filmmaker Helen Stickler, who had also attended Rhode Island School of Design and graduated with a film degree. The following spring, Stickler completed a short documentary film about Shepard and his work, titled "Andre the Giant has a Posse." The film premiered in the 1995 New York Underground Film Festival, and went on to play at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. It has been seen in more than 70 festivals and museums internationally.
Fairey was a founding partner along with Dave Kinsey and Phillip DeWolff of the design studio BLK/MRKT Inc. from 1997-2003 which specialised in guerilla marketing, and "the development of high-impact marketing campaigns." Clients included Pepsi, Hasbro and Netscape.
In 2003 he founded the Studio Number One design agency. The agency produced the cover work for the Black Eyed Peas's album Monkey Business and the poster for the film Walk the Line. Fairey has also designed the covers for The Smashing Pumpkins' album Zeitgeist, Flogging Molly's CD/DVD Whiskey on a Sunday, and the Led Zeppelin compilation Mothership.
In 2004, Fairey joined artists Robbie Conal and Mear One to create a series of "anti-war, anti-Bush" posters for a street art campaign called "Be the Revolution" for the art collective Post Gen. In 2005 Fairey collaborated with DJ Shadow on a box set, with t-shirts, stickers, prints, and a mix CD by Shadow. In 2005 also, he was a resident artist at the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. In 2006, Fairey contributed eight vinyl etchings to a limited-edition series of 12" singles by alternative rock band Mission of Burma, and has also done work for Interpol.
In 2004, Shepard Fairey co-founded Swindle Magazine with Roger Gastman.
"Supply and Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey," was released in July 2006. Then, on July 1, 2008, Phiiosophy of Obey (Obey Giant): The Formative Years (1989 - 2008), edited by Sarah Jaye Williams, was published by Nerve Books UK. Shepard Fairey wrote of this book:
In June 2007, Fairey opened his one man show entitled "E Pluribus Venom," at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. The overtly political nature of Fairey's work in the show led to a bomb scare in which the thousands of gallery-goers had to be evacuated from the space. This monumental show made the arts section front page in the The New York Times.
In addition to his successful graphic design career Shepard Fairey also DJ's at many clubs under the name DJ Diabetic and Emcee Insulin, as he has diabetes.
According to Eric Lyle, Fairey has cynically turned graffiti culture into a self-promoting ad campaign, turning street art into a cheap hustle that is no different from corporate advertising. On the other hand, San Diego Union-Tribune art critic Robert L. Pincus says Fairey's, "is political art with a strong sense of visual style and emotional authenticity. Even in times when political art has ebbed, Fairey's has just the right balance of seriousness, irony and wit to fit the mood of the moment."
Fairey currently resides in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Amanda and daughters Vivienne and Madeline. Fairey created a series of posters supporting Barack Obama's candidacy for President in 2008. He then created an exlusive design for Rock the Vote. He sits on the advisory board of Reaching to Embrace the Arts, a not-for-profit organization that provides art supplies to disadvantaged schools and students.
Fairey created the "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign in 1989, while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). This later evolved into the "Obey Giant" campaign, which has grown via an international network of collaborators replicating Fairey's original designs. In a manifesto he wrote in 1990, and since posted on his website, he links his work with Heidegger's concept of phenomenology. His "Obey" Campaign draws from the John Carpenter movie "They Live" which starred pro wrestler Roddy Piper, taking a number of its slogans, including the "Obey" slogan, as well as the "This is Your God" slogan. Fairey has also spun off the OBEY clothing line from the original sticker campaign. He also uses the slogan "The Medium is the Message" borrowed from Marshall McLuhan.
Fairey graduated from RISD in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in illustration. After graduation, he founded a small printing business in Providence, RI called Alternate Graphics, specializing in tshirt and sticker silkscreens, which afforded Fairey the ability to continue pursuing his own artwork. While residing in Providence in 1994, Fairey met American filmmaker Helen Stickler, who had also attended Rhode Island School of Design and graduated with a film degree. The following spring, Stickler completed a short documentary film about Shepard and his work, titled "Andre the Giant has a Posse." The film premiered in the 1995 New York Underground Film Festival, and went on to play at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival. It has been seen in more than 70 festivals and museums internationally.
Fairey was a founding partner along with Dave Kinsey and Phillip DeWolff of the design studio BLK/MRKT Inc. from 1997-2003 which specialised in guerilla marketing, and "the development of high-impact marketing campaigns." Clients included Pepsi, Hasbro and Netscape.
In 2003 he founded the Studio Number One design agency. The agency produced the cover work for the Black Eyed Peas's album Monkey Business and the poster for the film Walk the Line. Fairey has also designed the covers for The Smashing Pumpkins' album Zeitgeist, Flogging Molly's CD/DVD Whiskey on a Sunday, and the Led Zeppelin compilation Mothership.
In 2004, Fairey joined artists Robbie Conal and Mear One to create a series of "anti-war, anti-Bush" posters for a street art campaign called "Be the Revolution" for the art collective Post Gen. In 2005 Fairey collaborated with DJ Shadow on a box set, with t-shirts, stickers, prints, and a mix CD by Shadow. In 2005 also, he was a resident artist at the Contemporary Museum, Honolulu. In 2006, Fairey contributed eight vinyl etchings to a limited-edition series of 12" singles by alternative rock band Mission of Burma, and has also done work for Interpol.
In 2004, Shepard Fairey co-founded Swindle Magazine with Roger Gastman.
"Supply and Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey," was released in July 2006. Then, on July 1, 2008, Phiiosophy of Obey (Obey Giant): The Formative Years (1989 - 2008), edited by Sarah Jaye Williams, was published by Nerve Books UK. Shepard Fairey wrote of this book:
Sarah Jaye Williams knows art history, art theory, and has followed my Obey art and ideas throughout my career. She has compiled quotes for the “Philosophy of Obey” book by meticulously reading hundreds of my articles and interviews. These quotes touch on a broad range of topics and show the evolution of my positions over the years. There is humor, irreverence, hope, pessimism, anger, jubilation, and even maybe some wisdom mixed in with all the potentially contradictory thoughts and emotions. I think there is substantial food for thought in this spectrum statements. Check it out.
In June 2007, Fairey opened his one man show entitled "E Pluribus Venom," at the Jonathan LeVine Gallery. The overtly political nature of Fairey's work in the show led to a bomb scare in which the thousands of gallery-goers had to be evacuated from the space. This monumental show made the arts section front page in the The New York Times.
In addition to his successful graphic design career Shepard Fairey also DJ's at many clubs under the name DJ Diabetic and Emcee Insulin, as he has diabetes.
According to Eric Lyle, Fairey has cynically turned graffiti culture into a self-promoting ad campaign, turning street art into a cheap hustle that is no different from corporate advertising. On the other hand, San Diego Union-Tribune art critic Robert L. Pincus says Fairey's, "is political art with a strong sense of visual style and emotional authenticity. Even in times when political art has ebbed, Fairey's has just the right balance of seriousness, irony and wit to fit the mood of the moment."
Fairey currently resides in Los Angeles, California, with his wife Amanda and daughters Vivienne and Madeline. Fairey created a series of posters supporting Barack Obama's candidacy for President in 2008. He then created an exlusive design for Rock the Vote. He sits on the advisory board of Reaching to Embrace the Arts, a not-for-profit organization that provides art supplies to disadvantaged schools and students.
