Shepard Fairey

From CharlestonWiki

Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina) is a contemporary graphic designer. He is most noted for being the artist who, while attending the w:Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in 1990, created the "w:André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign, which has evolved into the "w:Obey Giant" campaign, and can now be seen all over the world. The campaign has become, in Fairey's words, an "experiment in w:phenomenology."

Fairey has cultivated an aesthetic of Western currency, using moire patterns and large portraits of famous figures like Richard Nixon. A series of works contains the line, "This is your God," referring to money. Fairey frequently uses wheatpaste to affix his large, propaganda-like posters to billboards, and his followers do the same to buildings.

Fairey graduated from Wando High School in 1988. He graduated from RISD in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration, and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. Using the slogan "The Medium is the Message" borrowed from w:Marshall McLuhan, Fairey has become one of the most well-known artists of the early 2000s. Originally partners in the BLK/MRKT graphic design firm with fellow street/w:graffiti artist w:Dave Kinsey, Fairey split away in 2003 to found the design firm w:Studio Number One.

In 2004, Fairey joined artists w:Robbie Conal and w:Mear One to create a series of "anti-war, anti-George W. Bush" posters for a street art campaign called "Be the Revolution" for the art collective Post Gen. 2005 saw Fairey and w:DJ Shadow collaborating on a box set. It included t-shirts, stickers, prints, and a mix CD by Shadow. In 2005 he also was a resident artist at Honolulu's w:The Contemporary Museum, as well as designing the poster art for the feature film w:Walk the LineIn 2006, Fairey contributed eight vinyl etchings to a limited-edition series of 12" singles by alternative rock icons w:Mission of Burma, and has also produced work for Interpol and the w:Black Eyed Peas.

External links

• Studio Number One website
• Official Obey Giant Website
• TheGiant.Org - The Definitive Obey & Shepard Fairey Website
• Exhibitions

• Interviews

• Complete database of all known prints by Shepard Fairey .
• This Is Your God Exhibition
• Post Gen website

• Shepard Fairey Originals & Prints at Outer Edge Studio.
• High End Shepard Fairey Fine Art and Masterpieces- at the Baurmann Gallery

• IMDB Lists Shepard for poster art for w:Walk the Line