If you've been to any major U.S. city recently, you may have spotted a two-tone print of presidential candidate Barack Obama emblazoned with the word "Hope" on a bumper sticker, lamp post or building.
Shepard Fairey, the 38-year-old street artist known for a guerrilla art campaign that coupled the ominous slogan "Obey" with the face of pro wrestler Andre the Giant, is behind the Obama design that has become synonymous with the Democratic nominee.
"I'm thrilled that my image has become an unofficial image for the campaign," said Fairey (pictured) on the eve of his new solo exhibition in San Francisco. "It's awesome."
Although Fairey's name has been known in underground art circles for decades, and his work has been commissioned by everyone from hip-hop group The Black-Eyed Peas to Showtime and Pepsi, it is his ubiquitous image of the presidential hopeful that has catapulted him into mainstream consciousness.
Fairey, along with artists like billboard hacker Ron English and British graffiti artist Banksy, has helped elevate street art, changing public perception of such works. Instead of vandalism, street art increasingly is viewed as a radical art movement worth preserving.
"Street art is like the new punk rock -- it's entering the mainstream," said William Haugh, director of Juxtapoz magazine. "And Shepard is behind all that."
Marc Schiller, CEO of New York-based ElectricArtists and co-founder of the street art blog Wooster Collective, agrees. He says Fairey's DIY approach and masterful use of iconography contribute to his successes.
"For many, many years the mainstream art world looked at street art as vandalism," said Schiller. "Now it's influencing the brands and the galleries. It's a natural evolution."
Although Fairey rose to fame for illicitly papering cities around the world with his signature stencils, the Los Angeles-based graphic designer says he hopes his iconic Obama posters will inspire more than just an underground revolution: He wants to infect the masses with the spirit of change.
"You never know when the street art bubble is going to burst," said Fairey. "But hopefully these works have merit beyond just the hype of that scene."
Before going into production on his first Obama-inspired print, Fairey, a fan of the senator after seeing him speak in 2004, was careful to seek approval from the campaign. "I didn't want anything I did to be a liability or an unwanted endorsement," said Fairey. "We had the unofficial wink and nod to do an image."
Fairey looked to Alberto Korda's famed shot of revolutionary Che Guevara (pictured) to create his red-white-and-blue print of Obama with the slogan "Progress." When the first edition of posters went on sale in January, the limited run sold out in minutes.
Schiller said he wasn't surprised the Obama posters were a runaway success.
"Shepard captures an energy in his work that is extremely powerful and unexpected," said Schiller. "When you apply it to a political campaign, the results are like magic. There's nothing like it."
After the success of the "Progress" print, Fairey says he was contacted by the Obama campaign to create an officially sanctioned poster in the same style -- only this time with a campaign-approved photo and slogan. The new artwork featured the now-famous "Hope" slogan.
"They said 'progress' sounded too Marxist," laughed Fairey, who estimated the profits from his Obama-themed merchandise topped out around $400,000. He says he donated the entire amount to the campaign.
"I have not kept one dime from the Obama [posters]," Fairey said. "I'm at a surplus; I've given the max amount to the campaign. Now we're just buying billboards and postering."
Fairey's transition from rogue street artist to art professional hasn't diminished his radical edge. He recently added an arrest to his already sizable rap sheet, this time for papering Denver with Obama- and Obey-themed stickers and fliers during the Democratic National Convention.
There's a unmistakable note of glee in his voice when he describes "bombing" -- or shimmying up drain pipes and scaffolding to illegally paste posters -- in nearly 40 public spots around San Francisco.
"When you walk down the street and see something in a crazy spot, there's something powerful about that," said Fairey. "The street will always be an important part of getting art out there for me."
If the first two decades of Fairey's career were dedicated to counterculture and skirting the boundaries of the mainstream art world, he's now riding the wave of success from his Obama posters into the next phase of his art.
"The whole concept of 'Obey' was getting people to question their obedience," said Fairey. "Now I'm trying to react to what's going on around me in a way that is constructive."
Fairey's exhibition, The Duality of Humanity, which runs through Oct. 4 at White Walls Gallery in downtown San Francisco, still deals in the pop culture ironies Fairey became known for with his earlier work.
The concept of the show draws from Stanley Kubrick's Vietnam War drama *Full Metal Jacket *and revisits John Carpenter's creature feature They Live (referenced in the original "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" stickers).
But there's a distinct message of hope and guarded optimism.
Fairey attributes the shift in focus -- newfound idealism and positivity -- to his experience working on the presidential posters.
"Plus, the positive works always sells better than the negative work," he kids before adding: "But seriously, the negative approach didn't work in 2004. It's time to try something different."
Photos: Jon Snyder/Wired.com, Obey.com
See also:
- Guerilla Graffiti Artist Banksy ID'd at Last?
- Cops Nab Alleged Graffiti Artist After Video Goes Viral
- Behind the Memes: Ji Lee, Bubble Project Media Jammer
- Graffiti Uses Technology to Tell Its Story
- This Brand Is My Brand
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