Comments on: The Obama Upset

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 00:59:26 +0000

Yeah, unfortunately it doesn't sound like Fairey has the greatest attitude. (It bums me out particularly because one of my favorite galleries just hosted a huge Fairey show.) I mean the best known artists are also great at self promotion but there's a point at which it becomes obnoxious. You're right, Banksy does seem a bit more on the level about things. Sometimes he even seems to parody himself. P.S.: Fixed your tag. :-)

By: David Simon

David Simon — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:03:15 +0000

Bah, didn’t close my end tag properly.

By: David Simon

David Simon — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 07:02:51 +0000

Yeah, that’s a good line to draw; being counter-culture is one thing, but that defense no longer works once the artist stops fighting the Man and starts becoming him (complete with trademarked t-shirt line!)

The thing is, I like Fairey’s style. In particular, I really like that Obama poster. By itself, it’s defensible as something that doesn’t have to be explicitly credited. Obama’s a recognizable figure, and it’s not as though Fairey’s trying to hide the fact that he just traced a photo. Same applies, at least to some degree, to his use of the Angela Davis photo, and a couple others…

But, in the context of the “oops, you got me, my bad, ever so sorry, won’t happen again wink wink” stuff Fairey pulls over and over… It rubs me the wrong way. I don’t want to support Fairey even when he’s in turn supporting someone I support.

Thanks for the link to the stuff about Banksy. He’s in kind of a similar situation, but to me it seems like he’s handling it with a lot more grace than Fairey. Although he’s suddenly raking in the dough, his appropriations still seem to be totally on-the-level (either so mainstream as to be obvious, or directly attributed, i.e. with the middle-finger guy being on the original painting itself).

Bonus points for doing tribute pieces to his critics (Ozone’s Angel, thanks Wikipedia). More bonus points for not trying to sell t-shirts.

By: Jason

Jason — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 04:53:25 +0000

Interesting article, David. I had seen it in passing before but I must admit I didn't read it in detail until now. I particularly appreciate the discussion of how Fairey is different from Warhol and Lichtenstein. I suppose Fairey really is testing the line between an artist's right to appropriate and full-on theft. Perhaps part of it comes from his early work as a graffiti artist -- appropriating imagery from others and turning it on its head. But when you start making money on that work things change. I imagine this will only become more of an issue as graffiti becomes ever more mainstream (see Banksy's big sales). As for Fairey, I'd love to hear him respond to Mark's critique or, at the very least, do a better job of giving credit to his sources.

By: David Simon

David Simon — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 01:34:10 +0000

I've seen some pretty thorough criticisms of Shephard Fairey as a plagarist. Are you sure you want to be spreading his name and work around?