Shepard Fairey is a famous American street artist, designer, political activist, illustrator, muralist, printmaker and propagandist. He is best known for his “Andre the Giant Has a Posse” campaign with a portrait of the famous wrestler and the word OBEY and for his HOPE campaign poster for Barack Obama. Famous Shepard Fairey artworks include “Andre the Giant Has a Posse (Obey)”, “Barack Obama (Hope)”, “We the People Defend Dignity”, “Rise Above Rebel”, “Make Art Not War”, “Universal Personhood”, “Guns and Roses”, “Mao Money”, “This is Your God”, “Artists for Freedom” and “Immigration Reform Girl”.
Mini biography: Born Frank Shepard Fairey on the 15th of February, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina, United States of America. Fairey is married to Amanda Ayala.
List of Famous Shepard Fairey Art Quotes
When people are doing something authentic and there’s no commercial platform for it to earn them a living, that’s really unfortunate. Then when things flip over to something becoming hyped or trendy and people go, “Oh, I’m going to get into it not for authentic reasons but because there’s commercial potential,” that’s also problematic to me. Shepard Fairey
I consider myself a populist artist. I want to reach people through as many different platforms as possible. Street art is a bureaucracy-free way of reaching people, but T-shirts, stickers, commercial jobs, the Internet – there are so many different ways that I use to put my work in front of people. Shepard Fairey
Our system of democracy, I think, alienates some people, yet it is the system we have and the only way to change it is through the system itself. Shepard Fairey
A lot of people define anything with a persuasive agenda as propaganda. I agree with that in a sense, but propaganda has a really negative connotation. My visuals have an agenda, but usually the agenda is to say, here’s an alternative to what you’re usually being presented with and what you’re asked to think. Shepard Fairey
With the Hope poster, I was saying, “Here is why I think Obama is the best choice for president.” But also that there are all sorts of ways to look up his policy positions, read his speeches, watch his videos, and make up your own mind. To those who would criticize this by calling it propaganda, I would say that it is not. Shepard Fairey
I’ve always liked the tension between spontaneous chaos and very resolved geometry. Shepard Fairey
People say that my activist work is so generous. I say, “No it’s not. I want to live in a better world—it’s selfish!” Shepard Fairey
A lot of my graphics for posters and t-shirts say “Obey Propaganda.” It’s reverse psychology. A lot of things don’t want you to feel that you’ve been asked to submit to something or that what you’re being presented with has an agenda at all. It’s the invisible hand of persuasion. Shepard Fairey
Shepard Fairey Artwork
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Related or similar popular artists and celebrities include: Banksy ||| Keith Haring ||| Takashi Murakami ||| Ron English, and other Famous American Artists.
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