The Urban Art of Shepard Fairey

The Clarion Content was not familiar with the urban Art of Shepard Fairey until the recent controversy about his Obama poster was in the news. We had seen the famous "Obey" image pictured above, but not Fairey's first stickers, "André the Giant has a Posse," which were originally seen in skate culture and around Providence, Rhode Island.

The "Obey" image reportedly was developed when Fairey was warned the André the Giant, the wrestler's name, was trademarked by Titan Sports, Inc. His redo with the word, "Obey" made a huge splash. He has replicated more than 500,000 stickers and the image campaign has been copied and homaged in graffiti, posters and stickers worldwide. Fairey graduated RISD, the Rhode Island School of Design. His Obey campaign spawned a clothing line, and a fascinating reiterating and recalibrating of the original design.

According the Giant.org, this is the Obey Manifesto,

"The Obey campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. The first aim of Phenomenology is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one's environment. The Obey campaign attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the campaign and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with Obey propaganda provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer's perception and attention to detail. The medium is the message."