Shepard Fairey
I like Shepard Fairey a lot. You may know him as ‘the Obama HOPE poster’ guy, but he’s been doing groundbreaking work for a long time, with an incredibly unique style. Working in graffiti and wheatpaste originally, his pieces are politically charged. Common themes involve immigration, war, capitalism and oil. He’s worked on campaigns for Darfur, pet adoption, anti-Prop 8 and Haiti. Tegan and Sara once even created pieces that used his gay posters as bases, but I somehow missed that auction. Which was good, because I probably would’ve forked over a lot of money.
Fairey’s work began with Andre the Giant stickers in 1989 and spread from there into whatever his domain seems to be now. He started making clothing a few years ago and when I stumbled into the one store in town that carries it, I fell in love. I also paid way more for his t-shirts than I usually can manage to part with, but they were worth it. I’m not sure about where the art ends and the branding begins, or where capitalism factors in, but I don’t care. I like the work.
Check out his artwork here:
http://www.thegiant.org
So now the clothing line, Obey, is doing jewellery. And I love it. A few I just wasn’t willing to pay that much for, but I did buy three pieces. Even the boxes they came in were slick.
This is my favourite:
'No Mercy, No Power -- But Our Own'
Fairey’s work began with Andre the Giant stickers in 1989 and spread from there into whatever his domain seems to be now. He started making clothing a few years ago and when I stumbled into the one store in town that carries it, I fell in love. I also paid way more for his t-shirts than I usually can manage to part with, but they were worth it. I’m not sure about where the art ends and the branding begins, or where capitalism factors in, but I don’t care. I like the work.
Check out his artwork here:
http://www.thegiant.org
So now the clothing line, Obey, is doing jewellery. And I love it. A few I just wasn’t willing to pay that much for, but I did buy three pieces. Even the boxes they came in were slick.
This is my favourite:
'No Mercy, No Power -- But Our Own'