Obey plagiarism

[dabbler]

interesting read...

Obey Plagiarist Shepard Fairey

[dj_soo]

i don't see how what he's doing is different than rampant audio sampling that goes on in all forms of music - especially in dance culture where sample sources are rarely, if ever, revealed (or done legally).

[rawb]

I THINK THE ARTICLE MISSES THE POINT
THE CONTEXT THAT SHEPARD FAIREY STARTED WITH WAS STICKERS AND POSTERS, STRAIGHT OUT OF A XEROX MACHINE. DURING THIS PORTION OF HIS EVOLUTION AS AN ARTIST, HE COULD PLACE A PROPAGANDIST MESSAGE (ANDRE THE GIANT HAS A POSSE) WHICH LOOKED MENACING IN A VARIETY OF NORMAL AMERICAN LOCALES (DUDES FROM RHODE ISLAND).

THERE WAS A TIME WHERE PEOPLE WERE EITHER SCARED/THREATENED BY HIS MESSAGES, OR WANTED SO DESPERATELY TO BE 'IN' ON A NEW 'HIP JOKE' OR FIND OUT WHAT PRODUCT TO PURCHASE THAT THERE WAS A FRENZY OF ANDRE THE GIANT MANIA. PEOPLE WANTED TO FIGURE OUT WHO WAS BEHIND THESE MESSAGES TO PERSECUTE/WORSHIP HIM. DURING THE TIME SHEPARDS ART CAME FROM XEROXED THROW UPS TO 3 COLOUR, GEOMETRIC WORKS

IN THE EARLY 2000's SHEPARD WAS PRETTY MUCH REVEALED AND GETTING MORE AND MORE LEGITIMATE IN HIS COMMERCIAL WORK, AND TRANSITIONED THE 'ANDRE THE GIANT' IMAGERY ONTO CLOTHES ON HIS FIRST LINE, 'GIANT'. THE IDEA KIND OF KILLED THE WHOLE REASON OF HIS ART (ADVERTISING A PRODUCT/IDEA THAT DOESN'T EXIST) AND MOVED HIM INTO A MORE COMMERCIAL VENUE. WHILE HE STILL DOES POLITICAL WORK HE IS CURRENTLY SURVIVING ON HIS PREVIOUS STREET AND ART CRED OF BEING A 90s/EARLY 2000s PHENOMENON. BASICALLY, DUDE IS KICKED IN A CORPORATE AS HELL NOW, BUT I CANT HATE ON A DUDE MAKING MONEY AFTER PUTTING IN YEARS OF WORK WITH NO REAL RECOGNITION, JUST TO FUCK WITH PEOPLE.

I UNDERSTAND WHAT THAT ARTICLE IS SAYING BUT TO SAY HE IS A COPIER THAT CANT DRAW IS KIND OF MISSING HIS POINT. HE COULD NEVER DRAW (AND FUCK, NEITHER COULD JACKSON POLLOCK BUT THAT DOESNT MAKE HIM ANY LESS SIGNIFICANT) BUT HIS TRUE STRENGTH IS JUXTAPOSING IDEAS ON PEOPLE (WHICH NOW I LESSENED SINCE THERE IS A FACE BEHIND THE WORK AND ITS ALL GOING ON FRAT BOY SHIRTS ANYWAYS).

[decypher]

Good read but it states the obvious. I think the writers put Fairey out to be more then he really is as much as his fans do. Even in Fairey's own videos he mentions how the original project had no purpose and it became so as people articulated their own meaning from the 'andre the posse' print.

I agree with the article that he's a good business man and sure knows how to milk the phenomenon that surrounded his original campaigns. He came up with a 1st year philosophy and was able to attach it to material goods. The statement Fairey makes that "people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the motive is not obvious," is bs. His most well known print is a brand where motive is not obvious to all. He takes his philosophy and world view as some new narrative against the powers to be. Or maybe his fans did as he just made open-ended ideological statements.

Fairey was less so a revival of the "1984" narrative and more a rehashing of a hyperculture into marketable form. It's for the rebel consumer.

Great article and lots of good research in there but I think they give Fairey a bit too much credit before tearing him apart. In one of Fairey's videos he even goes through the process of aggregating different images and he points to the influences (which when seen were obviously copied quite a bit). I think the sensationalism came from the way he guerrilla posted his prints. The philosophy was always second rate and even more deluded with the clothing line.