SHEPARD FAIREY

The visual codes used by Shepard Fairey, aka Obey Giant, are worthy of those of Stalinist propaganda, but here they highlight the mechanisms of advertising propaganda which invade public space. Currently based in Los Angeles, Fairey's rising success has helped transform his once homemade Xerox style into lush multi-colored screen prints.Over the years Shepard Fairey has developped a visual language that has been visible in large scale urban project.Shepard Fairey, aka Obey, has developed into one of the most influential street artists of our time. Despite breaking many of the spoken and unspoken rules of contemporary art and culture, his work is now seen in museums and galleries, as well as the worlds of graphic design and signature apparel. His multi-faceted, open-ended and generous artistic practice actively resists categorization. Building off of precedents set by artists such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, Fairey shifts easily between the realms of fine, commercial, and even political art.Fairey's multi-layered renderings of counter-cultural revolutionaries and rap, punk and rock stars, as well as updated and re-imagined propaganda-style posters, carry his signature graphic style, marked by his frequent use of black, white, and red. Recently, his portrait of Barack Obama, a ubiquitous sight on the campaign trail, drew a new level of attention to the artist's work and was recently acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, for its collection.

Shepard Fairey, mural for the democrat convention

MUSEUM EXHIBITIONSContemporary Arts Center Cincinnati

Warhol Museum

Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston

Contemporary Museum, Honolulu

MAIN COLLECTIONS

Smithsonian

Los Angeles County Museum of Art

Museum of Modern Art in New York

Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego

National Portrait Gallery in Washington

Victoria and Albert Museum in London