Shepard Fairey
Biography
Born in Charleston, South Carolina in 1970, Shepard Fairey is an American
graphic artist and social activist. He belongs to the street art movement and
is in the tradition of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Fairey engages in
social and political criticism through murals in public spaces. The iconic
portrait Hope (2008) for the then presidential candidate Barack Obama is
perhaps his most famous work. Fairey also caused a stir with the sticker
campaign Obey (1992), which he initiated while still a student at the
Rhode Island School of Design. Through writing and image, Fairey blurs the
boundaries between art and commerce.
In 2004, Shepard Fairey founded the art and culture magazine Swindle Magazine together with Roger Gastman. In July 2006, the book Supply and Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey was published. Fairey made a major appearance in the 2010 street art documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop by British artist Banksy. In 2013, he participated in the MAUS urban art festival in Soho Málaga, Spain.
His works are part of the collections of the Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C., the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.