Obey Sticker bombing
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Ribo
Twist the "go-go" side and hold on!
Ryan Stecken said:
Just for clarity it's called "exit through the gift shop" and it's one of the funniest documentaries you'll ever watch, you simply couldn't make this shit up and I was hanging around with some of these guys in London at the time. What made it into the movie was 1/2 of the madness especially what went down between Banksy and Guetta.
Not totally true. I, unfortunately, know Fairey. He's from Charleston, SC and I've skated with him many times in the 80's. We skated a pool that used to be downtown behind what became the headquarters for the Spoleto Festival. I am not here to defend the guy or speak well of him. I will say, many of my friends and I, plus all the other punk rockers, skaters and surfers in Charleston started spreading the Andre the Giant stickers. When anyone traveled to shows or to skate they plaster the stickers all over. That's where it began. Fairey, on the other hand, is a rich kid RISD grad that made a living stealing and manipulating graphic images. There isn't an inch of "street" in him whatsoever. Now, If any of you skated or were into the early rave or drum and bass scene in the nineties, you'll know that propagating and altering corporate logos and graphics was very, very common. Board companies manipulated Pepsi logos or Tide logos. It was all over shirts and clothes. No excuses, just putting it into context. The problem here is Fairey got really rich and famous. He never quit doing it and more recently he decided to try to put himself into the light of high art galleries and museums. He stole, but he was in no way the only one. He's just the most famous.Ribo said:
Ard, I think that article got the Anderson reference somewhat wrong. I think John Carpenter referenced Anderson's 1984 in They Live, and Fairey referenced both Anderson and Carpenter. Early in his career, he was referencing Carpenter and later he referenced Anderson.
My beef is mostly the appropriation of revolutionary originals. The death's head is an icon; the image of Big Brother has become one as well. His behavior in the "Hope" thing really finished it for me - theft without honesty? There's no statement there, or integrity. I bet it buys a nice house though.
Ribo
Twist the "go-go" side and hold on!
Fair enough - I'm an early 90's rave kid from UK and was a skater too and yep I had a few of those shirt. Oh man, those days are a bit of a blur now but I get what you're saying. We got the impression in the UK that he was more "street" (if you will), but it's probably just cos he was American and back then y'all seemed cool. As you can see from my y'all I've been secretly living amongst you for a while now so I know different... ;P
HollywoodMX
Coast to Coast
I have no fricken idea what you guys are talking about..
Scooter trash
Been Around the Block
Scooter trash
Been Around the Block
Obey is a graffiti artist that remained anonymous for a while. His art/tagging was all over the US. Then he came out and started selling publically. Obey Propaganda is the company name. Something like that, anyhow. My Grand Daughter just clued me in.HollywoodMX said:
carnivorous chicken
Over 1,000 Posts
Shepard's a good dude, my wife and I haven't seen him in years though. I get the criticism, especially over the Obama "Hope" poster -- dunno what he was thinking. But the bottom line is he did work his ass off for years, and sure, the sticker campaign was self-promotional, but he's making an great living doing what he's into, and obviously enough people are buying into it to make it happen for him. Kinda reminds me of the shit talking people do when someone gets known for building bikes, makes their money doing it, then they get hammered for being a sellout.
Exit Through the Gift Shop is an amazing send-up. It's "real," yes, but you're either in on the joke or you're not.
Exit Through the Gift Shop is an amazing send-up. It's "real," yes, but you're either in on the joke or you're not.
carnivorous chicken
Over 1,000 Posts
Rich Ard said:
I guess, sure, in the same way that Andy Warhol "stole" the Campbell's soup image and others, the same way that the Cuban gov't stole Alberto Korda's image of Che, etc., etc. And for much of the revolutionary art, to whom would he give credit? The Chinese and Soviet governments? Most of that imagery is unattributed and, as far as I know, public domain.
I posted a link earlier that outlines several instances. Mederos was one of the most egregious.
I think there is a decent argument to be made that Warhol was making a statement, and Fairey is making a buck - and only attributes artists when caught. The Hope campaign was SOP, not an outlier.
I think there is a decent argument to be made that Warhol was making a statement, and Fairey is making a buck - and only attributes artists when caught. The Hope campaign was SOP, not an outlier.
You also have to look at the time in which something occurred. Warhol's work was conceptually appropriate for the time it was done. You're also talking about images within a larger context. The process was as much apart of the work as the imagery. It was also de-mechanizing the products into art. In Fairey's work, he's recycling images to use the same way they originally intended, but with a different commercial purpose. The article Ard linked uses Lichtenstein to show this point.
carnivorous chicken
Over 1,000 Posts
I guess I'm ambivalent. Anyone looking at his imagery and thinking that he created it himself wouldn't be too bright. And if Warhol was conceptually appropriate for the time, why isn't Fairey? Let's also not forget that Warhol was very interested in making a buck, and helped pioneer the mass-produced silk screened art that Fairey also does. Empty slogans and radical posturing backed by inaction and consumption seem to be pretty spot on for summing up the last 15-20 years or so, and anyone buying an Obey shirt and thinking it's a radical act is pretty dim. I read the article Rich Ard posted the link to, and I'm not going to go as far as its author in labeling Fairey as "right wing" -- he's not. He's clearly interested in making money from art, as are most artists (whether they admit it or not). I guess my point is that to look at Fairey's work and not immediately think that he's copped it from somewhere else would be astonishing. I don't buy it, I think he's a good guy, and sitting back and looking where it got him is pretty amazing and funny.
A major point you're missing out on is that Warhol embraced his role as a protagonist, while Fairey denies it. Warhol's work was about mass production and mass consumption, while Fairey's work is mass production and mass consumption. It's what Fairey denies is what rubs people wrong. Justifying his actions or responses through the acts of others is not an exemption.
