Shepard Fairey, the man behind the famous Obama Hope poster has just opened his first solo museum exhibit in the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston museum. Opened Thursday February 5th, the exhibit shows his work on topics mostly relating to music, government, and society.
Fairey’s most famous work is his Obama Hope poster, which has recently been featured on the front of TIME magizine. The image features the face of President Obama staring confidently into the distance stenciled into red, white, and blue. President Obama’s successful campaign can be attributed to his acceptance of grassroot techniques such as Fairey’s graffiti art. Unknown to most people, the original poster featured the wording ‘PROGRESS’ not ‘HOPE.’ This was changed after about a month of distribution. Obama’s campaign contacted Fairey and requested that he change the wording from ‘PROGRESS’ to ‘HOPE’ in order to be more in common with Obama’s campaign message.
With its fame and success, the poster has recently been accumulating allegations that accuse Fairey of copyright infringement. Fairey based the poster on a photo owned and copyrighted by the Associated Press without giving them credit for the image or sharing any of his profits. Mannie Garcia, the original photographer who captured Obama’s stare in April 2006 while on an assignment from the AP, has contacted Fairey and threatened to sue for compensation for his work. Fairey has rejected these claims and argues that his use of the copyrighted photo is legal under the legal definition of fair use. Fair use is a legal term which describes certain situations where the use of copyrighted material without notiifing the owner is legal. For example, a student can legally use copyrighted material for research, while downloading copyrighted music for personal use is illegal.
Fairey’s art style is very similar to Andy Warhol’s portraits with many pop culture references, but often his art has a politic message. Many of his posters resemble soviet era propaganda posters which he adapts to the modern day by comparing the United States to the Soviet Union and its lack of freedom. He is a radical when it comes to politics. Described as a socialist libertarian, Fairey believes in the freedoms of anarchy but the support system of a socialist government. Much of his art features the portraits of famous political leaders such as George W. Bush, Nixon, Lenin, and Stalin as well as the fictional Big Brother adapted from the dystopian novel 1984 by George Orwell. Orwell’s 1984 and his other novel Animal Farm, have been huge influences for Fairey’s work. Many of Fairey’s posters focus on the evils of government surveillance and around the word “OBEY” which are in line with Orwell’s 1984. Fairey’s political message can be summarized as anti-capitalist, anarchist, and just generally anti-establishment.
Second to the Obama Hope poster’s fame is Fairey’s ‘OBEY’ face. The ‘OBEY’ movement started during Fairey’s years at Rhode Island School of Design when he started to distribute stickers stating ‘Andre the Giant Has a Posse’ with Andre’s face crudely drawn on. These stickers evolved into the stenciled black and white face of Andre often seen around metropolitan areas. If you have ever walked around Boston or Providence you have most likely seen Fairey’s work on sidewalks, walls, or street signs in the form of spray paint or on a sticker. Due to its fame, people now can download or buy copies of Fairey’s sticker to post themselves, which makes Fairey’s message much more mainstream. The ‘OBEY’ campaign has now turned into a global movement in which countercultural ideas run rampant and freely.
Fairey’s exhibit is open through August 16th at the Institution of Contemporary Art in Boston. The exhibits are free for people under 17, so there is no reason why high school students should not go. So if you are interested in government, art, or simply rebelling against establishments, do not miss this exhibit.
