FAIREY, SHEPARD (1970-)

"Obey" (1998)
screenprint
93 x 61cm
signed lower right
*private collection, Sydney
 
Fairey is an important, famous American Contemporary Street Artist, Graphic Designer, Activist, & Illustrator. He first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (...OBEY...) sticker campaign while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) in the late 1980s. Fairey is known for his "bold iconic style that is based on styling and idealizing images." He became widely known during the 2008 U.S. presidential election for his Barack Obama "Hope" poster. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston has described him as one of the best known and most influential street artists. He appears prominently in Banksy's seminal Street Art film "Exit Through The Gift Shop" (2010). He is also the founder of OBEY Clothing which emerged from the skateboarding scene. His work is included in the collections at The Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
 
Although this screenprint features his most famous image and has been reproduced & released numerous times by the artist, this is one of his earliest screenprint runs of this iconic imagery, back in 1998, the year of his very first solo show, and well before he was Internationally famous.