Well Shepard Fairey missed his big opening at the ICA in Boston he was arrested for graffiti. On his way to the opening where his audience awaited the Boston Police seized their man. Seems Shepard spent the few days leading up to the show creating public art in unwanted places. The Police and as it seems the people of Boston were not too impressed with his work on private property. I found the most interesting part of the story in reader comments, in the Boston Globe article.
Many of his fellow street artists mostly because of his success have criticized Fairey. They feel he has sold out to the establishment. So is this why he was out tagging to redeem his rep? Or was this a publicity gag that worked. Maybe drafting on Obama’s fame and fortune has slowed down. Fairey got a lot of good PR out of his poster. He got into the National Portrait Gallery without a ticket and he got the Boston Show. Now we will see what he gets.
I like his work to be honest regardless of what anybody says. I like the fact the he steals from artists of the past like Rodchenko and Heartfield. I like the fact that he uses familiar images that bombard us, only he makes us pay attention to them. I like the fact that he has a social agenda, that he is a voice that has power. I like the fact is getting attention, but he may not be so happy if he lands in jail. But hey you can’t buy this kind of stuff on your resume.
When Henry David Thoreau was in jail for his civil disobedience, his friend asked him what he was doing in there. Thoreau replied, “What are you doing out there”?
Story in the Boston Globe
Read the Comments, very interesting.
Related Posts by David Eubank
The Art of Politics
http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/the-art-of-politics/
The Vocabulary of Change
http://davideubank.wordpress.com/2008/11/10/rodchenko-heartfield-fairey-the-vocabulary-of-change/
Filed under: Art, Art Marketing, Art News, Art Prints, Culture Economey, How to survive as a Working Artists, Journalism, Media, News, On Art, Politics, Shepard Fairey, Uncategorized , Boston Globe, Shepard Fairey, Shepard Fairey Arrested, The Art of Politics
