Meet The Man Behind The Obama Poster Phenomenon

Washington Post:

When the street artist and guerrilla marketer Shepard Fairey got word from the Obama people that they would welcome his contribution to the campaign, he knew what he wanted to create: a phenomenon.

All political art is propaganda (that is the point), but most political posters are bland, forgettable, wallpaper, like Fred Thompson on an off day. Fairey wanted something more iconic -- aspirational, inspirational -- and cool. In other words, he wanted to make posters that the cool cats would want. The 2008 Democratic primary season equivalent of the Che poster (with all that implies). More Mao, more right now. The kind of poster that might make its way onto dorm room walls of fanboys. The kind of poster that might sell on eBay, as a signed Fairey Obama recently did, for $5,900. He wanted his posters to go viral.

"I wanted strong. I wanted wise, but not intimidating," Fairey says of the look for his Obamas. The agitprop pop art has become a must-have accessory among a certain subset of the candidate's supporters, who have gobbled up more than 80,000 of Fairey's posters and 150,000 postcard-size stickers since Super Tuesday.

Read the whole story: Washington Post

Comments

[Mrwilliams2u]

That Poster says Faith Hope Change Great work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[asemaany]

Towards peace. US presidential elections from Iranians' perspective:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iuVYlGZmtYg

[kellygrrrl]

Congrats Mr. Fairey!

Thank You for this beautiful piece of art!

[Ariesjill]

Ditto on the thank you....it is a very challenging thing to capture someone's ESSENCE IN ANY DEPICTION.­....AND THAT is what the artists managed here. I am going 2 get one of these, boy.

[kellygrrrl]

good luck!

[ebanks84]

The poster is wonderful and truly a part of our culture. I love it.

[patmancando]

When I see one of these posters with that pose of Obama.....­....the one around the most, I think, is HOPE.. That pose of Obama looks like an elitist snob looking down his nose at those poor blue collar workers, or as the Abaminations called them after WV........­.white trash. I wonder if anyone else has that impression? Not the Obamanuts, who think he is the messiah, but the comman man?

[kellygrrrl]

WTF is "comman"??

[olivia]

The poster doesn't do anything for me, not that it matters.

[theidaexpress]

Not to be negative, but it really isn't 'pop art' at all! I wouldn't even consider it art, and as a photographer, I am slightly annoyed that he would ruin a great portrait! I hope he got the rights to do that!!
http://www.theidaexpress.com

[liberalsrheros]

"To create his Obama poster (which he did in less than a week), Fairey grabbed a news photograph of the candidate off the Internet.

i'll bet he has a lawyer on retainer when it's HIS copyright being infringed.

"in less than a week"? c'mon, someone else created the photo and a child with a box of crayons could color it. with photoshop you can crank c rap like this out several an hour. wow less than a week. puhleeze.

relax now, i'm voting for obama. ;)

[rmetz74]

If you'd read the full article, you would know that a) he got permission from Obama's campaign, and b) he WANTS people to reproduce and repurpose the image without concern for his copyright, and has not profited from it at all.

[rmetz74]

It is the very definition of pop art. From the Wikipdia page on the subject, "Pop art, like pop music, aimed to employ images of popular as opposed to elitist culture in art, emphasizing the banal or kitschy elements of any given culture. It has also been defined by the artists use of mechanical means of reproduction or rendering techniques that down play the expressive hand of the artist."

aka, art on lamp posts and street signs rather than in galleries and museums, art that has been mass produced and recognizes its own commercial quality.

And if you'd read the full article, you'd know that the artist got permission from the Obama campaign.

[IslandGyal]

I have always liked that poster. I does remind of photos from communist country leaders though. That doesn't worry me; as I know the U.S. constitution will never Americans to be taken over by wanna dictators like bush and cheney, under the guise of 'protecting' us from terrorism or whatever other BS they come up with next.

[Kanary]

On a similar note, check out Joshua Green's The Amazing Money Machine: How Silicon Valley made Barack Obama this year's hottest start-up

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200806/obama-finance

A chunk of 'change' indeed.

[IslandGyal]

I have helped with that money machine. It's just funny, every time I feel like he was being beaten up on, like during the farce of a debate or Clinton's wins, I would go donate. So, let the republicans continue ganging up on him; that just makes us give him more to fight them back.

[AurigaRa]

me too

[cmrinc]

Looks like another awesome Islamic show piece.

[26eaj24]

Great work!

[Mayoyo]

Now that's hot...Clas­sic~

[noliberals]

Hey Dude , find something worth putting on a poster.

[Syco]

so not cool

[devadasi]

Hey noliberals, your use of the word dude speaks volumes of your ignorance and laziness.

I love how Obama is engages artists. He's often spoken about the the value of the arts in the public school system. As an art teacher in the NYC public school system, I can testify that the arts have an enormously empowering effect on kids, expanding their mind and creativity that trancends into all aspects of their lives.

[kellygrrrl]

Hey Dude - find some help!