Video: Obama cultists pay tribute to creepy Shepard Fairey hagiography

Hot Air ^ | NOVEMBER 14, 2008 | ALLAHPUNDIT

[RobinMasters]

Even now, with The One safely elected, I can’t quite believe this isn’t an elaborate piece of performance art engineered by Fairey to prove a point about political idolatry. As a goof on the cult of personality surrounding Obama, it can’t be improved upon: The leader, larger than life, reduced to the level of abstraction via the color scheme and Orwellian all-capped text, the better to render him the personification of a glorious ideal. Imagine a similar image of Bush circa 2004 emblazoned with the word “Victory.” Think the media would have noticed?

The best part: Fairey describing himself as a “counterculture artist.” Hey, Shep? You’re about as counterculture at this point as the official portrait painter for the Pope. Except that (a) the Pope’s not as powerful (or sacrosanct) as your guy is, and (b) the Pope’s guy might be doing it for the money, not out of blind religious devotion.

[Bertha Fanation]

Shepard Fairey? Is that the “guy” on Fox?

[mark3681]

“Shepard Fairey? Is that the “guy” on Fox?”

No. You’re thinking of Sheps A. Fairy.

[smokingfrog]

Well isn't that just the cat's meow!

[GBA]

Was that his name before he changed it to “Smith”?

[Callahan]

I remember when National Review endorsed Romney with Rockwell-esque portrait on the cover and all the Lib blogs started clucking about “fascist art” and Nazi imagery. Now I can’t walk down the street without Obama mug on staring at me I’m all it’s Che/1984 pseudo-religious glory. Statues and alters are next. Atheists need religion too you know.

[ETL]

From Barack Obama's official website:

“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
http://store.barackobama.com/Artists_for_Obama_s/1018.htm

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:
http://jonathanlevinegallery.com/?method=Artist.ArtistDetail&ArtistID=F65EBB86-3048-28EB-92D55AA4FC996E31&GalleryID=82C33C59-3048-28EB-92DB386C8C733405

________________________________________________________

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
________________________________________________________

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

_________________________________________________________________

Portrait of Angela Davis by Obama artist Shepard Fairey:

Angela Davis

Source: The Jonathan Levine Gallery (link given above)

_________________________________________________________________

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

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"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"
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

VIDEO: Obama icon artist, Shepard Fairey, discusses his numerous arrests in this May 2008 alternative media interview (2:32 min):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozeTXRa7_zo&feature=related

[Cicero]

When I see those Obama rallies, and listen to the chanting crowds, and look at his symbolic artwork such as the one mentioned here, I think immediately of its similarities to totalitarian dictatorships.

Hitler as orchestrated by Leni Riefenstahl. Stalin and the annual Mayday parades in Red Square. Chairman Mao and the great communist celebrations in Tienanmen Square.

Or the original of these patterns: Satan and his fallen angels, as depicted by Milton in Book I of Paradise Lost:

Then strait commands that at the warlike sound
Of Trumpets loud and Clarions be upreard
His mighty Standard; that proud honour claim’d
Azazel as his right, a Cherube tall:
Who forthwith from the glittering Staff unfurld [ 535 ]
Th’ Imperial Ensign, which full high advanc’t
Shon like a Meteor streaming to the Wind
With Gemms and Golden lustre rich imblaz’d,
Seraphic arms and Trophies: all the while
Sonorous mettal blowing Martial sounds: [ 540 ]
At which the universal Host upsent
A shout that tore Hells Concave, and beyond
Frighted the Reign of Chaos and old Night.
All in a moment through the gloom were seen
Ten thousand Banners rise into the Air [ 545 ]
With Orient Colours waving: with them rose
A Forest huge of Spears: and thronging Helms
Appear’d, and serried shields in thick array
Of depth immeasurable . . . .

[Stentor]

Obey Plagiarist Shepard Fairey

A critique by artist Mark Vallen

Published on the occasion of Fairey’s Los Angeles solo exhibition, Dec., 2007.

[ETL]

Thanks for the link(s). But I don’t really care so much that Fairey may be a plagiarist. What’s important to me is that the guy is a well known communist propagandist who is working for Obama.

[Harry Wurzbach]

What’s a good fascist/communist without some retro idolatry?

Whoever voted for Obama because of the expectation that he will “heal the planet” needs to be deported today.

[montag813]

I hate John McCain for subjecting us to this.

[Yardstick]

Well, the hypocrisy of the left never ends but Obama has really put it in high relief. Like, can you imagine if Bush had suggested some kind of mandatory national service corps?

[mykroar]

Nice video - a Fairey, 0bama, and a bunch of freaks.

[little jeremiah]

Yikes bump.

[Seven plus One]

I'm just thinking of what the reaction would have been 40 years ago had Nixon, let's say, had this kind of pop propaganda effort going. Or Johnson. That mug would have made some good posters.

[RonnG]

Given the current state of our culture...in Hollywood, in its educational system,its music, its media...count me among the ranks of the counter-culturalists