Shepard Perry. Everything you need to know about Fae Shepard. Posters for a human rights organization

American designer and artist Shepard Fairey is widely known for his works in the pop art style. We can safely say that today he is no less popular than the famous Andy Warhol or Roy Lichtenstein. Fairey very quickly and rapidly burst into the world of contemporary art and amazed everyone with his bright, piercing, screaming works at the top of his voice. It sparked numerous discussions in creative circles, heated debates that still do not subside. Today, this artist’s customers and clients include large media empires and corporations, famous musicians and famous politicians.

Most famous work

Shepard Fairey's most popular poster is called Hope, that is, “Hope”; it was dedicated at one time to Barack Obama, the future president of the United States. The artist managed to become part political history, and his career actively took off. When Obama campaigned in 2008, Fairey did his famous work, he hesitated for a long time, as there were several different options titles. After much thought, the artist chose “Nadezhda” and was not mistaken.

The poster not only influenced the mood of the majority of voters, but also glorified its creator. Fairey's poster was a real icon for supporters of the future President Obama - it was reproduced on numerous posters, on T-shirts, made into badges and stickers, posted on Internet sites and in in public places. The artist received personal thanks for this poster from Obama. The idea of ​​“Hope” was used later, during the creation of political posters after the elections.

Shepard Fairey - Obey

So, little-known artist, who created simple prints that later appeared on the T-shirts of his friends, suddenly became rich and famous. After the success of “Nadezhda”, he began to receive orders for the design of records of musical groups, and actively exhibited his works at opening days. Fairey's two paintings, made in the pop art style, became a stylization of already promoted and popular images of mass media. The first of them appeared in 1986 (in two versions at once). It was a portrait of a wrestler from France Andre Rousimov. On the poster, under the portrait, there was the inscription GIANT - HAS - A - POSSE, which translated into Russian reads: “The Giant also has a crowd.”

On another version of the poster, this phrase was significantly shortened and turned into one word OBEY, which translated means “obey.” This decision was associated with the film “They Live Among Us,” and it also worked. Subsequently, the word turned into the creative pseudonym of designer Fairey. Shepard Fairey's OBEY poster became a true classic, distributed not only as a poster, but also as a sticker.

Shepard Fairey's Weapons and Roses

Subsequently, the artist demonstrated with his works that he was not indifferent to everything in this world. Shepard Fairey's paintings such as "Guns and Roses" convey his positive messages to humanity. The artist demonstrates his attitude towards violence, this is the position of a pacifist who united idea and art.

The artist placed his works near the Metropole Hotel in Cincinnati, modern center machine tool and mechanical engineering, this is where aircraft engines and rockets are produced. The most famous was his painting "Peace Guard", this is the fourth creation of Shepard, which was exhibited at the center of contemporary art.

Fairy is actively involved in decorative artistic painting on the walls of houses, fighting dullness and routine. His works are fundamentally different from the now fashionable graffiti in their figurative approach, depth of idea and originality.

Faeries and the Earth Crisis

The latest climate conference in the city of Paris was another demonstration of the artist’s versatile talent. He placed a huge ball between the two floors (first and second) of the Eiffel Tower. The original installation was called "Earth Crisis".

Fairey has constantly expressed his attitude towards the difficult environmental situation in the world. “I am constantly driven by fear and anxiety about what the quality of life of the next generations will be. I am far from an alarmist, but I believe that people today need to understand that we are facing an Earth crisis ", the artist said before the event to discuss climate issues.

Posters for a human rights organization

Shepard Fairey's poster for a human rights organization was based on a photograph by Russian war photographer Yuri Kozyrev, and it immediately became very popular. The artist himself said about this work that it symbolizes courage, vigilance and determination, the desire to achieve peace and positive change.

In my desire to always be understandable to ordinary people, ordinary people, Fairey began not only creating, but also widely distributing free stickers and various posters, in which he caustically mocks the shortcomings of government and society, while calling for kindness and humanity.

Fairey and Donald Trump

For the date of the inauguration of current President Donald Trump, the artist presented new works entitled We the People. Instead of President Trump, they depict three different The posters feature a Latina, a Muslim, and an African American. The artist explains that they represent the entire people of multinational America. This campaign, Fairey said, was designed to focus on groups of the population that Trump had offended during his presidential campaign. These posters were distributed free of charge in the Washington DC metro.

The artist’s popularity could not help but cause a negative reaction in certain circles. The use of famous or traditional images in posters and paintings has led to significant controversy due to violation of copyright laws. Very strong and loud scandal occurred due to Fairey's lawsuit and the Associated Press due to the artist's use in his work of a photo that belonged to this agency.

One way or another, the modern American designer is still popular and has a lot of fans. He is not only versatile, but also a very fashionable and talented designer. Permanent exhibitions in galleries in America and Europe cause a huge stir, and Shepard Fairey's works have long been included in collections major museums Great Britain and America.

We've answered the most popular questions - check, maybe we've answered yours too?

• We are a cultural institution and want to broadcast on the Kultura.RF portal. Where should we turn?
• How to propose an event to the portal’s “Poster”?
• I found an error in a publication on the portal. How to tell the editors?

I subscribed to push notifications, but the offer appears every day

We use cookies on the portal to remember your visits. If cookies are deleted, the subscription offer will pop up again. Open your browser settings and make sure that the “Delete cookies” option is not marked “Delete every time you exit the browser.”

I want to be the first to know about new materials and projects of the portal “Culture.RF”

If you have an idea for a broadcast, but there is no technical ability to carry it out, we suggest filling out electronic form applications within the framework of the national project “Culture”: . If the event is scheduled between September 1 and November 30, 2019, the application can be submitted from June 28 to July 28, 2019 (inclusive). The selection of events that will receive support is carried out by an expert commission of the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation.

Our museum (institution) is not on the portal. How to add it?

You can add an institution to the portal using the “Unified Information Space in the Field of Culture” system: . Join it and add your places and events in accordance with. After checking by the moderator, information about the institution will appear on the Kultura.RF portal.

Shepard Fairey (Obey) – American artist, recognized as the most influential artist, according to the magazine “ART+Auction” as of 2008. An artist and designer, his works are known throughout the world. How did this artist distinguish himself and what works of his went down in history?

The artist's creative path

Frank Shepard Fairey (Obey) was born in 1970 in the family of a doctor. His creative path began with painting skateboards and clothes of his friends. In 1992, he graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design, and devoted his life to graphic design and music. His first exhibition was held in Boston. Now this man is a recognized talent, his work is associated with the underground as well as pop culture. Shepard Fairey's work can be seen at the Smithsonian Institution as well as the Museum Contemporary Art, located in New York.

Artist Shepard Fairey lives in Los Angeles, he is married and the father of two daughters. His first works became famous in the mid-1980s. In 1993, an original design was created dedicated to the Gator theme. Then he managed to inscribe the inscription “Obey” (Obey) in a twisting spiral. Two years later, in 1995, his work was filmed documentary. Despite the fact that “Obey” was created much earlier, it was then that the operator heard the story about Gator and became very interested in it - this helped to correctly present the idea and make it known.

During these same years, Shepard worked for Jobless Antiwork Wear and lived in Rhode Island. But, after meeting Andy Howlam, he thought about moving to California, because this state was the center of cultural events of those years. At the same time, as the artist himself admits, he painted many walls in Los Angeles and other cities.

Style by Shepard Fairey (Obey)

His style is classified as pop art and is often compared to Andy Warhol. The artist himself admits that he is very flattered by such a comparison, because Shepard sympathizes with Warhol’s work. But, as Shepard Fairey himself believes, he just continues best traditions, and tries to develop what Andy Warhol laid down.

Artist's works

Shepard Fairey is known all over the world, he collaborates with leading manufacturers of clothing, various products, as well as artists. But the most famous painting entitled “Hope”, was made during the election campaign of Barack Obama. on her future president was depicted in pop art style, and at the bottom of the poster was the inscription Hope. His first famous work was created in 1986 with the image of the French wrestler Andre Roussimoff, nicknamed the Giant. Under the portrait was the inscription “GIANT HAS A POSSE” (The giant has a crowd). The second version of this picture contains a shortened version of the slogan - Obey Giant (Obey). This phrase was associated with the film “They Live Among Us”, and was often used by the artist in the future.

The artist collaborated with many famous corporations and musical groups:

• PepsiCo;
• Adidas;
• Black Eyed Peas;
• Smashing Pumpkins;
• Took part in the series The Simpsons and others.

The artist went through many litigation, was arrested several times for writing graffiti. And despite this, he still remains one of the most influential personalities in the world of graffiti and pop art art.

Today Shepard Fairey is known as the most... bright representative pop art, creative artist and He burst into the world of art with bright and “talking” paintings and immediately caused a lot of controversy around him, which has not subsided to this day. The artist works under the pseudonym Obey, which means “obey”, “obey”, and all of his work seems to ask you to listen to the world and peer into the surrounding realities. But skeptic critics are trying to convict the artist of deception. Who is he: a master of plagiarism or an art revolutionary?

Biography

Shepard Fairey was born in Charleston (USA) in the family of an ordinary doctor. But already from childhood he showed the abilities of an unusual child. He was interested in punk rock and DIY art (which means “do it yourself”). First creative steps committed by painting clothes and skateboards of friends, already “armed” with a well-known pseudonym.

At 22, Shepard has a degree from the Rhode Island School of Design fine arts and several directions for choosing a creative path. and music became the first step career ladder artist. Some time later, Shepard's work was exhibited in Boston and immediately made an impression. The designer is associated with three pop and public art.

In 2003, Fairey opened his own design agency. Today his works are included in the collections of several museums and art institutes in the USA and Great Britain.

The artist was arrested several times for drawing graffiti in public places and putting up advertising posters.

Creation

As an artist, Shepard Fairey has always been distinguished by his ability to react vividly and originally to what is happening in the world. His paintings are a reflection of ideological, religious, political and environmental problems. World fame came to the artist in 2008 with a poster for Barack Obama’s election campaign. Creation has received symbolic name Hope (or “Hope”), which largely influenced the course of the elections.

Shepard Fairey immediately developed a unique creative style. His paintings are recognizable; their color palette and execution style are reminiscent of Soviet posters. According to the artist himself, creativity and

Commercial design

For some time after graduating from design school, Fairey worked in a printing house and made stickers, decals, posters and advertising T-shirts. Later he switched to “guerrilla” marketing and realized himself in major projects of Adidas and Pepsi. It is Fairey who owns the logo of the Mozilla Foundation - the creator Firefox browser. Also significant is the designer’s collaboration with the musical groups Black Eyed Peas and Smashing Pumkins, for whom he designed

According to Fairey himself, he selects products for advertising primarily from a moral standpoint, not a commercial one.

Graffiti

What Shepard Fairey showed least of all among his colleagues and art connoisseurs was street art. However, his work in this direction also attracts attention. Graffiti artists say that Fairey skillfully and actively exploits popular social topics, but that doesn't make him a master street art. Obey's graffiti-style works are more like "guerrilla" marketing or advertising, which, of course, is far from street art. Simply put, they are not connected to the street, the interaction of space and people. Despite this assessment, Shepard Fairey often organizes exhibitions in galleries in Europe and the USA and always receives a warm welcome and attention to his work.

Criticism

On creative path Shepard Fairey was always restless and excited. There are skeptical critics who look for and seem to find evidence of plagiarism of the artist's works. Among them are art historian Lincoln Cushing and artist Josh McPhee. Their doubts are caused by the style and forms that Shepard Fairey uses. His paintings, like photocopies, have neither clear lines nor strokes. And the images used by the artist are hackneyed and familiar to everyone.

Any representative of art, one way or another, falls under the influence of his predecessors. He adopts, rethinks, transforms and forms his own unique style. According to critics, Shepard only copies other people's works with minor changes and stylization and passes them off as his own. Thus, the scandal surrounding Shepard’s work is often recalled, dedicated to the star After WWE threatened the artist with legal action for using a registered mark, Fairey changed the wrestler's portrait and slogan to Obey. It is noteworthy that one of the versions of Andre the Giant is similar in composition to the Soviet poster by Dmitry Moor “Signed up as a volunteer?”

The cause of the litigation was Fairey's most famous work, Hope. Then the Associated Press accused the artist of using a photograph of Obama in 2006, commissioned by the agency.

P.S.

Shepard Fairey's creativity brings the designer profit and fame, accusations and arrests. But the Rhode Island School of Design can still be proud of its graduate. After all, despite all the suspicions and complaints from the authorities and critics, Fairey was and remains versatile, lively and fashionable artist. His works, if they did not turn the world upside down, then influenced “public discourse.”

- (eng. Frank Shepard Fairey, born February 15, 1970) is a contemporary American street art artist and designer. He is also known by his nickname Obey, which is a reference to one of his more famous tags.

Biography, creativity

Shepard Fairey was born in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. His father worked as a doctor and his mother was a realtor. He graduated from the Idyllwild Arts Academy in 1988 and from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992 with a BFA.

In 1989, he created the "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" stencil, which later became a street art company called Obey Giant. This work is based on the image of Andre Rene Rousimov, a French wrestler and actor better known by his nickname Andre the Giant. In a 2008 interview, he recalled: “The Andre the Giant sticker was just a spontaneous, happy accident. I was teaching a friend how to make stencils in the summer of 1989 and was looking through newspaper photos that I could use and there just happened to be an ad for Andre the Giant and I told him he should make a stencil of it. He said, 'Nah, I'm not making a stencil of this, it's stupid!' But I thought it would be funny, so I made a stencil."

By the early 1990s, Fairey had created tens of thousands of different "Giant" stickers, which he posted around the world. Helen Stickler's film was released in 1995. same name"Andre The Giant Has a Posse", which was dedicated to Shepard Fairey and his street art company. The film was presented at the Sundance Film Festival in 1997, and in the 2000s it began to be perceived as something of a cult not only in the world of street art, but also for various representatives of the counterculture in general.

In 1994, Fairey, due to the threat of a lawsuit from Titan Sports, Inc. for copyright infringement, modified the poster and created an image called "Obey". This work was the face of a giant with the signature Obey (Obey) below. It did not contain any political slogans, and was, on the one hand, a kind of hint of anti-authoritarian content, a parody of totalitarian propaganda, which was defined by art critic Robert L. Pincus as “ironic conceptual art,” and on the other hand, a reference to the 1988 cult film “Aliens.” Among Us" (sometimes: "They Live Among Us", English "They Live") by John Carpenter.

Over the next few years, in addition to stenciling and countless "Giant" stickers, Fairey also created a number of large-scale graffiti and posters that were placed in various locations around the world. Currently, this image has gone beyond street art and began to be used in the design of clothing, interiors, etc., and has also been continued in modern pop art.

In 2003, together with his wife Amanda Fairey, he opened the design agency Studio Number One, which worked on the design of the Monkey Business album. The group Black Eyed Peas, posters for the movie “Walk The Line”, the album “Zeitgeist” by Smashing Pumpkins, a poster for the TV series Dexter commissioned by Showtime, etc. Since that time, Fairey has worked a lot in the genre of poster painting and his work has become more and more commercially successful. He begins to work to order, creating posters various companies, groups, etc. emphasizing, however, that he works only with those brands that do not cause him moral rejection.

In 2004, he took part in the anti-war campaign "Be the Revolution" directed against the administration of President Bush. Fairey creates a range of political and social posters with a number of figures from various fields of art.

In 2008, Shepard Fairey created perhaps his most famous work, “Hope,” which was dedicated to Barack Obama and was widely used both during the election campaign and after it. Later this work was continued in the form of “Occupy HOPE” and “We are the Hope” - posters that were created in 2011 as part of the Occupy movement.

It should also be noted that Fairey twice designed the covers of Time magazine (Person of the Year). In 2008 (Barack Obama) and in 2011 ("Protester").

In 2017, Shepard Fairey created three posters against US President Donald Trump's immigration policies. The series received the unofficial name “We are the people” (option: “We are the people”, English. We the people), because this phrase is contained in all three works. The posters feature girls from Trump's three most criticized ethnic groups(Muslim, Hispanic and African American). Fairey's posters have been used at several protest marches in the United States, as well as in the design of T-shirts and other items.