Posted on 08/06/2009 3:25:28 PM PDT by iowamark
Artist Shepard Fairey, whose iconic HOPE campaign poster of Barack Obama was a global sensation, is back with a new image that both questions and deifies the President.
Appearing on the cover of the Aug. 20 Rolling Stone, the portrait depicts Obama with a brow knit in determination, surrounded by a halo of stars.
"Will he take bold action or compromise too easily?" asks a headline enshrining the President's head.
Fairey said it wasn't meant to be a halo. Rather, the picture he worked from showed Obama standing in front of the presidential seal, he said.
"It's one thing to be running for president and it's another to be President and I think this new illustration that I did hopefully captures the complexity and the weight of his new role," Fairey said.
"Not only will we see how he performs, but also whether we as Americans will now help him and continue to push for the changes we asked for."
The Rolling Stone cover story, appearing on newsstands Friday, examines the issues testing Obama in his first year in office. For more details, go to www.rollingstone.com.
A guerrilla street artist who has several graffiti arrests, Fairey said his portrait was also inspired by a classically stuffy artwork: Gilbert Stuart's unfinished painting of George Washington, the basis for the engraving on the dollar bill.
Fairey said he was saying both that, like Washington, Obama's barrier-breaking president will be significant, "but also to say the jury still's out on whether this President will live up to his promise."
Like the HOPE poster, which spawned a hundred parodies and homages and which now hangs in the National Portrait Gallery, the new Obama image is a study in red, white, blue and black.
It is the antithesis of a striking poster that began popping up this week in downtown Los Angeles depicting Obama as Heath Ledger's Joker, in clownish whiteface with a red slash for a mouth.
"Socialism" declares the poster, which was created by persons unknown and is showing up all over highway pillars and vacant lots - just like Fairey's famous poster.
"I think it's great that someone has the right to express themselves and they took the initiative," he said, "but I don't agree that Obama's taking us into a socialist direction. He's just trying to correct the course."
hkennedy@nydailynews.com
Gergen, Krugman, Michael Moore!
What a Brain Trust!
Iconic. Practically byzantine. But not as historic as the Gore package cover or the Bubba crotch shot.
More like a brain bust.
Yeah, and since it was a round table discussion it was easy to keep them busy. Just told them to sit at the corner and they just kept walking around and around and around.
“I wanted to make an art piece of Barack Obama because I thought an iconic portrait of him could symbolize and amplify the importance of his mission. I believe Obama will guide this country to a future where everyone can thrive and I should support him vigorously for the sake of my two young daughters. I have made art opposing the Iraq war for several years, and making art of Obama, who opposed the war from the start, is like making art for peace. I know I have an audience of young art fans and I’m delighted if I can encourage them to see the merits of Barack Obama.”
-Shepard Fairey
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Note: if this original link doesn't work any longer, try the second one:
http://store.barackobama.com/Artists_for_Obama_s/1018.htm
http://students.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/external_organizing
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See? It's all about "peace, love, togetherness" and "change".
Here are some of Fairey's other masterpieces. No joke. Most of his works are along these same lines (anti-American, pro-communist propaganda). Check the link.
Source: The Jonathan Levine Gallery:
Note: on 8/5/09, I discovered that nearly all of Fairey's images were removed from this web page.
http://jonathanlevinegallery.com/?method=Artist.ArtistDetail&ArtistID=F65EBB86-3048-28EB-92D55AA4FC996E31&GalleryID=82C33C59-3048-28EB-92DB386C8C733405
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From Shepard Fairey's official website (ObeyGiant.com):
Check it out! I got a thank you note from Barack Obama. If he is elected, maybe I have a get out of jail free card. All kidding aside, I’m honored to be acknowledged by someone so important to the future of our country. Also, the Obama campaign asked me to do a poster illustration for sale on their site. It should be out next week on barackobama.com.-Shepard
http://obeygiant.com/post/check-it-out
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Here is the 'thank you' letter Barack Obama sent to Shepard Fairey:
"Dear Shepard, I would like to thank you for using your talent in support of my campaign. The political messages involved in your work have encouraged Americans to believe they can help change the status quo. Your images have a profound effect on people, whether seen in a gallery or on a stop sign. I am privileged to be a part of your artwork and proud to have your support. I wish you continued success and creativity.
Sincerely, Barack Obama.'"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601017.html
Source for letter image: Fairey's own website (ObeyGiant.com):
http://obeygiant.com/post/check-it-out
If the image of the letter should 'vanish' from Fairey's website, try this link:
http://www.notcot.com/images/obama_letter-to-shepard-fairey.jpg
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Portrait of Angela Davis by Obama artist Shepard Fairey:
Angela Davis
Source: The Jonathan Levine Gallery (link given above)
Also here:
Angela Davis by Obey Giant, Shepard Fairey:
http://www.zimbio.com/Shepard+Fairey/articles/63/Angela+Davis+Obey+Giant+Shepard+Fairey
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From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
PROFILE: ANGELA DAVIS
* Communist professor at the University of California’s Santa Cruz campus
* Recipient of the Lenin “Peace Prize” from the police state of East Germany in 1979
* Provided an arsenal of weapons to Black Panthers who used them to kill a Marin Country judge in a failed attempt to free Davis' imprisoned lover, Black Panther murderer George Jackson
* Icon of the campus Left and frequent guest speaker at anti-war rallies
* Leader of a movement to free all criminals who are minorities claiming that they are political prisoners of the racist United States
* “The only path of liberation for black people is that which leads toward complete and radical overthrow of the capitalist class.”
Angela Yvonne Davis is a tenured professor in the “History of Consciousness” program at the University of California - Santa Cruz. A former member of the Black Panther Party, she is currently a “University Professor,” one of only seven in the entire California University system, which entitles her to a six-figure salary and a research assistant. This income is supplemented by speaking fees ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 per appearance on college campuses, where she is an icon of radical faculty, administrators, and students. Davis has also taught at UCLA and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1303
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Also by Shepard Fairey, Obama's personal icon artist...
http://www.duckywaddles.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=171
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http://www.duckywaddles.com/Scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=744
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"Stalin Lenin", Shepard Fairey,
limited edition silkscreen, signed
and numbered. 18"X24" *SOLD OUT*
Source: http://www.duckywaddles.com/scripts/prodView.asp?idproduct=429
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"Check it out! I got a thank you note from Barack Obama. If he is elected, maybe I have a get out of jail free card"
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VIDEO: Obama icon artist, Shepard Fairey, discusses his numerous arrests (13!) in this May 2008 alternative media interview
(2:32 minutes):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozeTXRa7_zo&feature=related
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Street artist Shepard Fairey, who designed Obama 'Hope' poster, arrested for graffiti in Boston
[...make that *14* arrests!]
NY Daily News | February 7th 2009
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/02/07/2009-02-07_street_artist_shepard_fairey_who_designe.html
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"Fairey Anti-Bush"
"Bush Hell"
Source:
http://www.thegiant.org/wiki/index.php/Special:Search?search=bush&fulltext=Search
Help him destroy us. No thanks. Not a chance.
MY LETTER TO THE WHITEHOUSE AND OBAMA ABOUT FREE SPEECH
A PETITION ON FACEBOOK FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RESTORATION
You think he thought the same about GWB? After all the "O" has inherited the weight of the blacks, Hispanics, Indians, Jews, dogs, cats, global warming, white thugs and stupid police.
Note! He doesn't carry the weight "AMERICANS!"
Is it possible to be both fascinated and sickened simultaneously?
One of the small mercies of this administration is the certainty that when this poseur is finally impeached, resigns or gets roundly defeated, this mob of punch-drunk brown-nosers and fawning ass kissers may finally be driven from this country to somewhere where their pop culture fascism will be more fully appreciated. Venezuela and Cuba come immediately to mind.
More homo-erotic art from a Fairey
A round table with three leftist? Ok...
Isnt this mag supposed to talk about music?
Every time I see a pic of him or him on TV before I can grab the remote I think am in some bizarre universe
I can’t believe this is the POTUS
I wonder if the quick fix for ‘Joker’ won't backfire on all of them when Jason Reed (Reuters) gets a look at ‘his’ pictorial (Reuters “United States Image of the Day Top Picture” March 23, 2009)and cries, “Intellectual Property Rights infringement.” Or people think that once again instant celeb and moola breeds another case of mediocrity as Fairey does a quick rush of someone else’s work (knowing full well what this picture invokes)to plaster over the lipstick on a .........poster popping up around town.
Back in March I printed out a copy of Reeds’ work, to contemplate the image and Image of the day, my printer kept glitching in a couple of places and the the wording around his head read ‘all the pres united’. No kidding. But I wonder if the article is a ‘first float’ about replacing President Washington with the halo image of Mr. O on our dollar bill? Or more appropriately, a new currency or national debit card?
I missed the Gore package cover. Do you have a link?
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