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Is there no place to avoid Shepard Fairey?

The other day, I left my hermit's cave and actually ventured into Kenmore Square for a lunch engagement. Andre the Giant and oversized Red Revolutionary Peasant Women stared at me from every available surface, it seemed (except, of course from the world's largest anti-gun poster and the soft green that surrounds our local field of dreams). It was quite a shock for a country boy from the sticks, where the public art consists of a) A bust of Alexander the Great and b) Gang tags on the pedestrian bridge over the Amtrak tracks.

Anyway, UnlikelyWords reports on Fairey's talk at the ICA:

... There was a lot to like. Fairey was enthusiastic and genuinely seemed to enjoy talking about his art. He didn’t come off as pretentious or idealistic, which is always a possibility with celebrities famous for their political activism. ...

Ryan Weaver also reports on Fairey's talk.

Kerry, meanwhile, reports Fairey showed up at his club to do some DJing (as DJ Diabetic):

... He was also a really nice guy, posing for photos and signing Obey propaganda. And the best part was to both of our surprise, he was repping the Proletariat. ...

Finally, Dan Kennedy explains why AP would likely lose a copyright suit against Fairey for basing his iconic Hope memey thing on one of its photos.

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Comments

I met Shepard handing out stickers at Providence Art fair way back in the day, he seemed like the real deal to me.

That Alexander the Great park is just sad, I have never seen anyone over there. Poor Alex looks so lonesome, they should have put him across the street at the big Greek Church.

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"The AP's lawyers may be counting on Fairey's paying money to make this go away rather than be subjected to negative publicity."

Negative publicity... what's that again? Is that where you become less famous?

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No comment on his art but, isn't anyone else bothered by all those "Obey the Giant" Andre the Giant stickers on all the light poles, etc, in town? Art or not, it is graffiti when it is exhibited like that.

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But I was waiting for someone braver than me to say it before I came out of the woodwork.

Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com

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While Fairey's work has some unusual appeal, we should still be condemning the defacing of public and private property.

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Fairey sold stickers and handed out stickers. Some people stuck them on their hardhats, their skate boards, their garage or room wall, etc.

Some people overwhelmed a neighborhood light pole with a swarm of them.

Graffiti, sure. Not entirely Fairey's doing, even if it was the serving suggestion. Still, it is more interesting to look at than scribbled gliphs on name tag stickers.

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Then again, I've always been fond of the "Andre The Giant Has A Posse" stickers which I first saw around Northampton and Amherst in the early 90s, so it's kind of nice to see the idea evolve and go kinda nuts.

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I have seen these things for many years now. Maybe some think they are art but they really have a "broken windows" effect if you ask me. Why can't people care enough to keep their neighborhoods clean?

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story...

"Fairey rummages around on his desk and produces a letter from Obama himself. "Dear Shepard," the candidate writes. "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 help change the status quo. Your images have a profound effect on people, whether seen in a gallery or on a stop sign."

Messages. Images. Effect. Someone understands phenomenology. And the thing about stop signs? "He's kind of endorsing graffiti," Fairey says, "isn't he?" "

My biggest dissapointment with the new president is his endorsement of "urban art" being slapped illegally on public property.

Fairey is kinda passe anyway, hes everywhere, its not new anymore. It was edgy when you would see it every now and then, now its lame because its in every city and on every pole.

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As soon as the bit about stop signs got out, the press had a field day and the campaign issued a huge statement full of backpedalling, saying The Big O only supported legal expression, blah blah.

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I was for stickers on stop signs before I was against it (best said with a brahman style accent...)

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Stop Me before I get elected?

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Its like those union elections, you start seeing random bumper stickers for these guys in the weirdest places (although it makes sense because its where the guys work) but some of those eletrical boxes on the side of the road get very covered in them.

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I have to laugh ... some guy named Shayne Noone has his stickers all over around Sullivan Square and Charlestown.

Some of them got stretched and cracked in the process and look more like NO ONE for Union Rep (or whatever he was running for).

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Sullivan Square is definitly the place to go to find those stickers, with the Teamsters right there it gets a little crazy.

I cant remember any of them now but Ive seen quite a few interesting names on those bumper stickers, and they always seem to be having elections so there is never a shortage of new names on them either. I even saw my own name up there once (truth be told I have a fairly standard name for these parts so no big suprise) of course I kept an eye out for the guy putting them up to get one for myself, but to no avail.

No One , theres a candidate I can get behind!

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