Frank Shepard
Fairey
Education
1988 graduated
at Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts
1992 graduated
Rhode Island School of Design with BFA in Illustration
Occupation/Client
1989:
part-time job at Providence Skateboarding shop (in here Fairey found interested
in the underground culture beside what he's learned from academic enviroment)
1989: While
he's demonstrating how to create stencil for friend, "Andree the Giant has
a posse" sticker was born. The sticker has no meaning but exists only to
cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker. Those
who are familiar with the sticker simply find humor and enjoyment from its
presence but those who try to look deeper into its meaning only burden
themselves and often, end up condemning the art as an act of vandalism from an
evil, underground cult.
1990: The
stickers of " Andree the Giant has a posse" later lead to OBEY sticker
campaign.
His OBEY sticker Campaign draws from the John Carpenter
movie "They Live" taking a number of its slogans, including the
"Obey" slogan, as well as the "This is Your God" slogan. Fairey
has also spun off the OBEY clothing line from the original sticker campaign. He
also uses the slogan "The Medium is the Message" borrowed from Marshall
McLuhan.
1992: founded
a small printing business in Providence, Rhode Island, called Alternate
Graphics, specializing in t-shirt and sticker silkscreens, which afforded
Fairey the ability to continue pursuing his own artwork
1995: "Andree
the Giant has a posse" documentary film premiered in New York Underground
Film Festival
1997: "Andree
the Giant has a posse" documentary film premiered in Sundance Film
Festival
1997: together
with Dave Kinsey and Phillip DeWolff, he found BLK/MRKT design studio which
specialized in development of high-impact marketing campaign. Client included
Pepsi, Hasbro, Netscape (Mozilla Foundation)
2003:
founded Studio Number One design agency
with his wife Amanda Fairey. The agency later worked with many celebrity like Black
Eye Peas
2003: together
with Banksy, Dmote and many other artist, created works at a warehouse
exhibition in Alexandria, Sydney for Semi-Permanent
For anybody wonder about Semi Permanet:
Semi-Permanent is a creative platform spreading art and design inspiration. It
consists of a conference and side events which include exhibitions,
competitions, workshops and parties. It’s a week long celebration of all things
design. Graphic Design, Film, Art, Illustration, Web Design, Photography,
Visual Effects, Animation, Graffiti, Motion Graphics, Stop Motion; all these
things and more. Semi-Permanent explores the diverse and exciting design world
bringing together exceptionally talented artists and designers to speak at the
event.
2004: joined
artists Robbie Conal and Mear One to create a series of "anti-war,
anti-Bush" posters for a street art campaign called "Be the
Revolution" for the art collective "Post Gen"
2006: Supply
and Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey was released
2007: Fairey
opened his one man show entitled "E Pluribus Venom", at the Jonathan
LeVine Gallery. The show made the arts section front page in The New York
Times.
2008: Philosophy
of Obey (Obey Giant): The Formative Years was released
2008: Fairey
teamed up again with Z-Trip to do a series of shows in support of then
presidential candidate Barack Obama entitled Party For Change.
Almost overnight, Fairey was one of the
biggest names in contemporary art.
Fairey created a number of posters for
Presidential hopeful Barack Obama, using stylized portraits of the Senator with
words like “Progress,” “Vote,” “Change” and “Vote” displayed across the bottom
in large letters.The posters spread and were parodied by conservatives and
embraced by Obama’s supporters. Talking heads on TV debated the significance of
the portrait and Obama himself sent Fairey a note of thanks.The 2008 election
was one of the most viciously contested in recent history, and Fairey’s image
undoubtedly had some effect on the result. Some cities, including Obama’s home
city of Chicago, put up hundreds of copies. The Smithsonian even obtained a
copy of the portrait for their permanent collection
2008: opened
his solo show titled "Duality of Humanity" at The Shooting Gallery in
San Francisco. His show with the gallery featured one hundred and fifty works,
including the largest collection of canvases pieces in one show that he's done.
2009: arrested
on his way to the premiere of his show at the Institute of Contemporary Art in
Boston, Massachusetts, on two outstanding warrants related to graffiti. He was
charged with damage to property for having postered two Boston area locations
with graffiti, a Boston Police Department spokesman said.
2011 Time
Magazine commissioned Fairey to design its cover to honor "The
Protester" as Person of the Year in the wake of the Arab Spring, Occupy
Wall Street and other social movements around the world. This was Fairey's
second Person of the Year cover for Time, his first being of Barack Obama in
2008.
Artist’s Art &
Design Philosophy
Most of his early time work can be explained as an
experiment in Phenomenology. Obey quoted from Martin Heidegger, a German
Philosopher, " Phenomenology is the process of letting things manifest
themselves." Base on the same idea of "Andree the Giant has a
posse" sticker, OBEY sticker campaign was enable people to see clearly
something that is right before their eyes but obscured; things that are so
taken for granted that they are muted by abstract observation.
Later with the
Number One Studio, Fairey challenges the way people think about their
surroundings and questions the purpose. In the name communication and
observation, the medium is the message. He applies this creative and
promotional ethos wherever art and enterprise intersect. He want to change the
way people experience media and the urban landscape. "And by media, I mean
everything," said Fairey.
