Street artist, graphic designer, activist and illustrator; these are just a few of the words used to describe the diverse talents of Frank Shepard Fairey.
One of today's most influential street artists, Fairey began his career in the skateboarding scene creating stickers, in particular the famous, "André the Giant Has a Posse." Fairey is known for his varied use of media that includes stencils, screenprints, collages and works on wood, metal and canvas. Fairey's diversity is exemplified by his works as a "fine" artist as well as a commercial artist and businessman.
The influence of politics and powers of the day feature heavily in Fairey's work and he explains his driving motivation as being to, "question everything". He is focused on creating art that everyday people can relate to and his work can often be found in public art spaces.
The American OBEY artist produced the iconic Barack Obama "Hope" poster during the 2008 U.S. presidential election. Following Obama's win the image was procured by the Smithsonian Institution for inclusion in its National Portrait Gallery.
Fairey's works have been incorporated in the collections of the Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art - New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art - San Diego, the National Portrait Gallery - Washington D.C., and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
"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."
Want to learn more about Shepard Fairey?
"Question everything" ~ Shepard Fairey
Back
