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Shepard Fairey

Biography

Shepard Fairey d-gallerie

Shepard Fairey is an American muralist and graphic artist who first gained attention for creating a sticker with a portrait of the towering professional wrestler André the Giant and the word Obey. Fairey is perhaps best known for his iconic 2008 “Hope” poster depicting then U.S. presidential candidate Barack Obama. His work combined street-art activism with entrepreneurial spirit.

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As a middle-class teenager, Fairey had an interest in skateboard culture. By 1984 he was designing and selling hand-decorated boards and T-shirts. He graduated (1988) from the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Palm Springs, California, and earned 

 a B.F.A. (1992) from the Rhode Island School of Design. While at the latter institute, he experimented with street-art media, launching his first sticker campaign in 1989 with a crude portrait of André René Roussimoff, captioned Andre the Giant Has a Posse. He gained national attention and sold more than one million copies of another sticker with a refined version of the portrait and the single word Obey. A documentary short, André the Giant Has a Posse (1997; directed by Helen Stickler), and Fairey’s adroit use of the Internet further raised awareness of his instantly recognizable style—appropriated imagery reduced to strong graphic renderings in black, white, and red. Fairey’s subsequent design and marketing ventures—BLK/MRKT and Studio Number One—counted major corporations and rock bands as clients.

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In 2008 Fairey found both mainstream success and counterculture notoriety with the red-and-blue “Hope” poster, which was created on his own initiative. It was quickly adopted by the Obama campaign and was widely imitated. However, Fairey had based the poster on a news photograph by Mannie Garcia without obtaining permission. When Garcia’s agency, the Associated Press (AP), demanded payment, Fairey responded by suing AP, “seeking a declaratory judgment that he had not engaged in copyright infringement.” The case was settled out of court in 2011, and in 2012 Fairey pleaded guilty to charges of criminal contempt for destroying documents and manufacturing evidence. It was not to be the artist’s last brush with the law. In 2015 the city of Detroit charged him with malicious destruction of property, alleging that he “tagged” posters at 18 unsanctioned sites. The case was later dismissed.

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The “Hope” poster was just one example of Fairey’s frequent use of art to advance his strong beliefs. He protested the Iraq War, supported Occupy Wall Street, advocated gun control and environmental protection, and designed a T-shirt for U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders’s 2016 Democratic presidential campaign. In 2012 he created for Ebonymagazine a portrait of slain African American teenager Trayvon Martin. Protesting the perceived racism that emerged during the 2016 presidential campaign, Fairey created a series of three posters titled “We the People.” The series recalled the colours of the “Hope” poster but instead featured minority women as their subjects.

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Fairey’s major mural commissions included the Peace Elephant (2011), adorning the West Hollywood Library, Los Angeles; and a multistory mural, Purple Project (2014), in Johannesburg, honouring South African statesman Nelson Mandela. Many of his later murals call attention to some of the major issues facing the United States in the late 2010s and early 2020s. These include mass incarceration (The Stamp of Incarceration [2015], various locations throughout Philadelphia), pathways to U.S. citizenship (American Dreamers [2018], on Mack Sennett Studios, Los Angeles), and voting restrictions (Voting Rights Are Human Rights [2020], Wallpapered City, Milwaukee, Wisconsin). The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, hosted Fairey’s first major solo exhibition, “Supply and Demand,” in 2009.

Education

  • 1992 Bachelor of Fine Art Rhode Island School of Design

Exhibitions

  • 2023 PRINTED MATTERS: WHILE SUPPLIES LASTUnderdogs Gallery Lisbon, Portugal

  • 2023 HEAVY METALBlack Book Gallery Englewood, Colorado

  • 2022 PRINTED MATTERS: PAIX ET JUSTICES16 Gallery Montreal, Canada

  • 2022 EYES OPEN, MINDS OPENLotte Museum of Art Seoul, Korea

  • 2022 BACKWARD FORWARDDallas Contemporary Dallas, Texas

  • 2022 NEW CLEAR POWERAMUSEUM of Contemporary Art Munich, Germany

  • 2021 FUTURE MOSAICOpera Gallery Dubai, UAE

  • 2020 THREE DECADES OF DISSENT Musei In Comune Roma Rome, Italy

  • 2020 KNOWLEDGE + ACTION = POWERSubliminal Projects, Virtual Exhibition

  • 2019 FACING THE GIANT: THREE DECADES OF DISSENT Galerie Itinerrance Paris, France 

  • 2019 OBEY GIANT: 30 YEARS OF RESISTANCE Grenoble Street Art Festival Grenoble, France 

  • 2019 FACING THE GIANT: THREE DECADES OF DISSENT Burrard Arts Vancouver, British Columbia Canada 

  • 2019 FACING THE GIANT: THREE DECADES OF DISSENT Stolen Space London, United Kingdom 

  • 2019 FACING THE GIANT: THREE DECADES OF DISSENT AS220 Providence, Rhode Island 

  • 2019 FACING THE GIANT: THREE DECADES OF DISSENT & NEW WORKS Over The Influence Los Angeles, California 

  • 2019 FACING THE GIANT: THREE DECADES OF DISSENT GGA Gallery Miami, Florida 

  • 2019 FACING THE GIANT: THREE DECADES OF DISSENT Samuel Owen Gallery Greenwich, Connecticut

  • 2018 SALAD DAYS Cranbrook Art Museum Bloomfield Hills, Michigan 

  • 2018 GOLDEN FUTURE Galerie Ernst Hilger Vienna 

  • 2018 FORCE MAJEURE Moscow Museum of Modern Art Moscow, Russia

  • 2017 DAMAGED Library Street Collective Los Angeles, California 

  • 2017 PRINTED MATTERS Treason Gallery Seattle, Washington 

  • 2017 PRINTED MATTERS Underdogs Gallery Lisbon, Portugal 

  • 2017 PRINTED MATTERS a MBUSH Gallery Sydney, Australia 

  • 2017 PEACE & JUSTICE Seoul Arts Center Seoul, South Korea

  • 2016 VISUAL DISOBEDIENCEHOCA Foundation Hong Kong EARTH CRISISGalerie Itinerrance Paris, France

  • 2015 EARTH CRISIS GLOBE INSTALLATION Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

  • 2015 ON OUR HANDS Jacob Lewis Gallery, New York, NY, USA 

  • 2015 YOUR EYES HERE CAC Málaga Museum, Málaga, Spain 

  • 2015 PRINTED MATTERS & PUBLIC MATTER SHOW: DETROI Library Street Collective, Detroit, Michigan, USA 

  • 2015 SHEPARD FAIREY: NEW EDITIONS Pace Prints, New York, NY, USA

  • 2014 POWER & GLORY – THE INSISTENT IMAGE: RECURRENT MOTIFS IN THE ART OF SHEPARD FAIREY AND JASPER JOHNS The Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, Charleston, South Carolina

  • 2014 50 SHADES OF BLACK: THE ALBUM COVER ART OF SHEPARD FAIREY Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2012 SOUND & VISION StolenSpace Gallery, London, United Kingdom

  • 2012 PRINTED MATTERS The Public Trust, Dallas, TX

  • 2012 AMERICANA Perry Rubenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2012 HARMONY & DISCORD Pace Prints Gallery, New York, NY

  • 2011 YOUR AD HERE V1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark 

  • 2011 REVOLUTIONS: THE ALBUM COVER ART OF SHEPARD FAIREY Robert Berman Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

  • 2010 PRINTED MATTERS Subliminal Projects, Los Angeles, CA 

  • 2010 MAYDAY Deitch Projects, New York, NY 

  • 2010 SUPPLY & DEMAND: 20 YEAR SURVEY Contemporary Arts Center (CAC), Cincinnati, OH

  • 2009 SUPPLY & DEMAND: 20 YEAR SURVEY Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA 

  • 2009 SUPPLY & DEMAND: 20 YEAR SURVEY Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Boston, MA,

  • 2008 Scope Miami Beach Jonathan LeVine Gallery, Miami, FL

  • 2008 Duality of Humanity White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • 2007 IMPERFECT UNION Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA 

  • 2007 NINTEENEIGHTYFOURIA StolenSpace Gallery, London, United Kingdom 

  • 2007 E PLURIBUS VENOM Jonathan LeVine Gallery, New York, NY

  • 2006 RISE ABOVEMerry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2006 SHEPARD FAIREY/OBEY Galerie Magda Danysz, Paris, France

  • 2006 OBEY Maxalot Gallery, Barcelona, Spain

  • 2006 SHEPARD FAIREY: NEW WORKS White Walls Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • 2006 SHEPARD FAIREYWax Poetics Gallery, Burbank, CA

  • 2005 MANUFACTURING DISSENT Black Floor Gallery, Philadelphia, PA

  • 2005 VISUAL DISOBEDIENCE OX-OP Gallery, Minneapolis, MN

  • 2005 VISUAL DISOBEDIENCE Voice 1156 Gallery, San Diego, CA

  • 2005 MANUFACTURING DISSENT Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2005 SHEPARD FAIREY Hard Rock Cafe Gallery, Orlando, FL

  • 2005 SHEPARD FAIREY: PRINT EXHIBITION DC Gallery, Denver, CO

  • 2005 SHEPARD FAIREY/OBEYEXIT Gallery, Hong Kong, China

  • 2004 SUPPLY & DEMAND Paragraph Gallery, Kansas City, MO Martin Mcintosh Outre Gallery, Melbourne, Australia

  • 2004 SUPPLY & DEMAND Merry Karnowsky Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2004 SUPPLY & DEMAND Gallery Katz, Boston, MA Shooting Gallery, San Francisco, CA

  • 2004 SHEPARD FAIREY Kantor Gallery Window, New York, NY

  • 2004 SHEPARD FAIREY V-1 Gallery, Copenhagen, Denmark The Ad Shop, Brussels, Belgium Kerckhoff Gallery, UCLA, CA

  • 2003 KANTOR GALLERY WINDOW New York, NY

  • 2003 MILK San Francisco, CA

  • 2003 CPOP Detroit, MI

  • 2003 THINK TANK Denver, CO

  • 2003 RED FIVE San Francisco, CA

  • 2003 THIS IS YOUR GOD SIXSPACE, Los Angeles, CA

  • 2003 OBEY: THE ART OF SHEPARD FAIREY Perehelion Arts, Phoenix, AZ La Base, Paris, France

  • 2002 DEPT/FUMIYA GALLERY Tokyo, Japan

  • 2002 BOSTON MUSEUM MA

  • 2002 1300 GALLERY Cleveland, OH The Emporium Gallery, Encinitas, CA

  • 2001 OBEY & SLAY Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, College of Charleston, SC

  • 2001 SHEPARD FAIREY Tin Man Alley Gallery, PA

  • 2000 REPETITION WORKS Alife Gallery, New York, NY

  • 2000 OBEY GIANT Anno Domini Gallery, San Jose, CA

  • 2000 GIANT, CAPSULE Birmingham, United Kingdom

  • 1999 ANDRE THE GIANT HAS A POSSE Chamber of Pop Culture, London, United Kingdom

  • 1999 POST NO BILLS Lump Gallery, Raleigh, NC

  • 1999 THE MEDIUM IS THE MESSAGE SixSpace Gallery, Chicago, IL

  • 1999 POWER OF PROPAGANDA H. Lewis Gallery, Baltimore, MA Dept Gallery, Tokyo, Japan Aro Space Gallery, Seattle, WA Larboratoriette Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden

  • 1998 GIANT INFILTRATES NEW YORK CITY CBGB 313 Gallery, New York, NY

  • 1998 DIRT GALLERY Kansas City, MO

  • 1998 SALON BOB GALLERY New York, NY

Collections

  • THE NEW MUSEUM OF DESIGN New York, NY 

  • SAN DIEGO MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART San Diego, CA 

  • MUSEUM OF MODERN ART San Diego, CA 

  • VICTORIA & ALBERT MUSEUM London, United Kingdom 

  • HOLLY SOLOMON GALLERY New York, NY 

  • LOS ANGELES COUNTY MUSEUM OF ART Los Angeles, CA 

  • SMITHSONIAN NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY Washington DC 

  • INSTITUTE OF CONTEMPORARY ART BOSTON Boston, MA 

  • HARVARD PRINT MUSEUM Cambridge, MA 

  • SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART San Francisco, CA

  • MUSEUM OF FINE ARTS BOSTON Boston, MA 

  • LOS ANGELES MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY ART Los Angeles, CA

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