Artist Post: Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey is a digital/street artist born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1970. Fairey became fascinated with art as a young child and went to the Idyllwild School of music and the Arts where he graduated in 1988, before attending the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design. Most notably known for his street art and propaganda-style works, his roots started in the punk music/skateboarding "underground" scene.

Fairey's "Obey" campaign began in 1992 and started out as a joke between himself and a friend when Fairey was asked how to stencil a T-shirt. What started out as a random example would grow into one of the biggest experiments in Phenomenology, or "the process of letting things manifest themselves". I found this very interesting, especially in a world where one's worth is equal to the amount of work and notoriety that one makes for himself. Fairey lets the public do his marketing for him. The simple act of ordering someone to "Obey" naturally makes them curious as to what they are supposed to be obeying- which ends up getting the viewer interested in this product or brand that they know nothing about.

Now an established artist, Fairey is trying to grow the street art movement. He has appeared in many films on the subject such as Bomb It, Popaganda: The art and Crimes of Ron English, and is notorious for his role in Exit Through the Gift Shop. I find it very interesting that by playing on the mind of the general public via many psychological ploys can result in such a "giant" success.

Sources: 

http://www.obeygiant.com/about

http://arthistory.about.com/od/namesff/p/fairey.htm

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1735854/