Silk Screen Artist ~ Sheperd Fairey
Posted on: March 17, 2010
These are a few silk screens that Shepard Fairey created. The first one is “one hell of a leader” and it’s of George W. Busch. The second is of Obama and is the “Progress” poster, which goes along with the “Hope” poster of Obama. The third is of a man inspecting a rose while wearing a gas mask. The fourth picture, I think is the most meaningful one, it’s a little girl who looks moderately sad holding a grenade. This shows that children are being affected by the war and its making them sad.
He started his work after he graduated, he found a small printing business in Providence, Rhode Island, called Alternate Graphics which specializes in t-shirt and sticker silk screens. He had created alot of posters supporting Barack Obama’s 2008 candidacy for President of the U.S.A. The most famous piece of artwork he created is the “HOPE”
poster, a New Yorker art critic said the piece was “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You.'” The “HOPE” poster was “perpetuated illegally”, so Fairey created an exclusive design for Rock The Vote. Fairey has stated that the original version featured the word “PROGRESS” instead of the word “HOPE,” and that within weeks of its release, the campaign requested that he issue (and legally disseminate) a new version, keeping the powerful image of Obama’s face but captioning it with the word “HOPE”. The campaign openly embraced the revised poster along with two additional Fairey posters that featured the words “CHANGE” and “VOTE”. Fairey distributed 300,000 stickers and 500,000 posters during the campaign and all the money he made went right into making more posters and stickers, therefore he didn’t keep any of the Obama money. Barack Obama even liked his artwork, he commented on it and here is the quote:
“I would like to thank you for using your talent in support of my campaign. The political messages involved in your work have encouraged Americans to believe they can change the status-quo. Your images have a profound effect on people, whether seen in a gallery or on a stop sign. I am privileged to be a part of your artwork and proud to have your support.” — Barack Obama, February 22, 2008.
The original “HOPE” portrait was featured on the cover of Esquire Magazine‘s February 2009 issue, this time with a caption reading, “WHAT NOW?” Shepard Fairey’s influence throughout the presidential election was a factor in the artist himself having been named a Person of the Year for 2008. In January 2009, the “HOPE” poster was acquired by the US National Portrait Gallery and made part of its permanent collection. It was put on display on January 17, 2009.
Brimaxine1510's Blog 
March 17, 2010 at 2:34 pm
These Silk Screens are all part of the OBEY campaign.