WL catches up with Shepard Fairey, the groundbreaker behind the iconic image of Barack Obama.
YOU HELPED CREATE THE ART CAMPAIGN “BE THE REVOLUTION,” A SERIES OF ANTI-WAR POSTERS. WAS POLITICALLY-CHARGED ART ALWAYS A PART OF THE PLAN?
In 1989, I was working at a skate shop making four dollars an hour when I made the Andre the Giant sticker. Now, people see the Obama pieces and think it was an overnight success. The Obama poster was the logical progression of how I’ve been doing things over the past 20 years.
YOUR CURRENT WORK HAS SHOWN THE IMPORTANCE OF ART AS A VEHICLE FOR POLITICAL ADVOCACY. WAS THAT YOUR OBJECTIVE?
During Denver, we did a show to demonstrate how it’s not just the power players that make a difference, every person’s efforts help. Art has the ability to capture the imagination, to get people out of the monotony of their routine and think not only of how things are, but of how they could be.
PRESIDENT OBAMA WROTE THAT, “WHETHER SEEN IN AN ART GALLERY OR ON A STOP SIGN, YOUR ART HAS THE ABILITY TO ENCOURAGE AMERICANS TO THINK THEY CAN CHANGE THE STATUS-QUO.” WAS THIS THE TYPE OF REACTION YOU WERE EXPECTING?
I had modest ambitions when approaching this piece and it certainly went further than I expected. But when anything tips to the mainstream, there is always backlash. People said, “You were a rebel, but now you want to get in with the big wigs.” Luckily, there are a lot of people who see Obama’s run for presidency as an opportunity to put an idealist in the White House.
YOU WERE RECENTLY PICKED AS ONE OF GQ’S MEN OF THE YEAR ALONG WITH BARACK OBAMA. HOW DOES IT FEEL TO SHARE THE PODIUM WITH OUR NEW PRESIDENT?
This has been an amazing year. I’m going to do what I can to produce art that is meaningful to me. I have nothing to prove, I’ve been arrested 20 times. I feel sincere and positive about my work. What next? Educate my audience about my history. There should be activism in art; the idea of getting off your ass and doing something that can make a difference.
Photography Jill Greenberg
