Shepard Fairey's OWS Poster: The Rise And Fall of Hope:

Shepard Fairey, known for his "Andre The Giant Has A Posse" propaganda and his iconic Obama "HOPE" poster created during the 2008 presidential campaign, is finding out that creating pointed political rhetoric is more complicated than it used to be.

Fairey initially designed a poster that re-imagined his famous "HOPE" image as an homage to the Wall Street occupier. The artist replaced the image of President Obama with a presumed member of the group "Anonymous," sporting a Guy Fawkes mask. The piece bore the message, "Mister President, We HOPE You're On Our Side."

The famed street artist-turned-muralist also altered the small Obama logo and inserted a "99%" to coincide with the Occupy Movement's cause. Despite his efforts and good intentions, Fairey experienced a wave of criticism after he released the image on his blog.

The main critique that was echoed by several people believed to be associated with the Occupy Wall Street movement is that it did not coincide with their "Statement of Autonomy," claiming that the poster gave off the impression of hopeful partisanship.

In a move to promote constructive criticism and open discussion, Fairey and the OWS organizer published their conversation for all eyes to see. After a few exchanges, Fairey eventually decided to revise the poster, removing all references to the President with the exception of the overall composition that many will associate with the 2008 campaign.

Fairey told HuffPost Arts: "I made the image the way I thought it should be made. Images can also create a valuable dialogue, and I took into consideration some of the feedback generated by Occupy HOPE. I have not replaced tho original design, I have added another version that places more emphasis on the hope of OWS."

It would be easy to say that Fairey was simply out of touch with the grassroots movement and that his attempt to contribute fell on deaf ears, but the published exchange between the two camps reveals more of a difference in execution than intent.

In the end, it wasn't the supposed gaffe on Fairey's part that became the topic of conversation, but the willingness of both sides to air their conversation so that we can all better understand today's political climate.

Check out the image in question and a slideshow of other OWS poster artwork below.

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Comments

[kinogod]

10:16 AM on 12/04/2011

Serial re-user. But all of art is, he just doesn't hide his trace paper.

[kibibi]

12:07 AM on 11/26/2011

I guess I'm not allowed to post on the this story, I've tried a couple of times and neither have been posted, what's up?, too much truth?

[cheo]

04:37 AM on 11/25/2011

Some are great graphically, but the two which get the message across the best, are the map of the US divided up according to wealth distribution #13, and one with the turquoise, black and white quadrants, #11.

[Merrell Michael]

02:52 PM on 11/24/2011

Yeah, these are all kind of lame. I dont think they help the cause significantly. The footage of the UC Davis cop pepper spraying peaceful protesters probably does a lot more to raise awareness of whats going on.

[beerbagger]

06:58 AM on 11/24/2011

Can't figure out why the Occupy Denver people haven't jumped on the iconography here yet.

The Use Only What You Need campaign stuff would be easy to usurp...

Exhibit F:
http://www.denverwater.org/docs/imagegalleries/FD2F1578-AB40-9EFD-CFFDDB7814A8B46C/BusBench_img.jpg

[Don Clanton]

05:31 AM on 11/24/2011

Imagery evolves. Morphing a political poster to a protest poster makes for a helluva statement. Guy Fawkes becomes V becomes Anonymous becomes the 99%. Does the Prez become the 99? Should he? Well, he IS the Prez, right?

[dyltron]

04:54 AM on 11/24/2011

While I'm glad that Shep was willing to compromise with OWS, I liked the first poster a lot better.

I know OWS wants to stay above the partisan fray, but in the end their fate hinders on the outcome of this election and they must know that they have no allies on the other side of the aisle.

And in many ways Obama and OWS are a perfect match: both were made to serve each other's interests, yet neither will openly acknowledge the other as their intended base. Instead, both opt to appear post-partisan by remaining vague and inclusive. And in doing so, both dilute the very power of their message. Due to these anomalies, it seems as though both President Obama and Occupy Wall Street are doomed to be stuck in each other's friend zones; fond, but not in love.

Instead, both parties should be clear of their intentions. OWS must continue pointing that the human microphone at Obama's invitingly huge ears. So long as unemployment is high and those cameras are on, he will have no choice but to listen.

[Siebenstein]

07:24 PM on 11/23/2011

I love the Hope poster because it says so much about what we, the people, need and have to do after everything else has failed. We need to trust ourselves and we need to change our direction---we ARE the hope of this country; for real, and no politician is also not Obama.

[Murikawa]

12:12 AM on 11/24/2011

I prefer the headless Guy Fawkes pastel done by the Australian Pastellist James DeWeaver (jamesdeweaver.com),who's good friends with Banksy,and his vicious blog against corporations and greedy capitalist like the Koch brothers, who DeWeaver writes about with complete distain!Even though they spent $70,000 on one of his drawings!suckers!

[Siebenstein]

07:20 PM on 11/23/2011

I love the "new" Hope poster but without the sentence for Obama.

[barb gantt]

05:46 PM on 11/23/2011

People’s State of Mind: Manifest the Country into whatyou see as the ideal USA
This Country is the sum total of all the manifestationsof individual beliefs and thoughts…
all the I AMs.
We have to change our thinking and beliefs…We have toBELIEVE in change of consciousness.
We have to change our thinking.
Focus on perfection of the USA…”what you see is what you get”
LIST OF POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS TO FOCUS ON:
Pay OFF the national debt
No more imports until the national debtis paid
Set the example: Put the housing marketPonzi creators in prison with Madoff
No more bail outs period
Free education for students majoring inneeded job fields with B averages or better
Re-instate Glass Steagall Act
Individual fiscal responsibility
Election reform
Scale down government
Scale down government spending
Elimination of Lobbyist
General Work Strikes the first Mondayof every month.
Purchase Boycotts
Corporations have to hire full timewith full benefits, no more part time positions
Recalls: citizens remove officials bypetition
Congress and Senate work for minimumwage with no benefits
No more illegal immigration
No more off shore of US jobs
The US pulls all troops home to the USA
No more foreign aide
No more foreign intervention
No more foreign war
US citizens have to devote 2 years ineither community or military service to their country
No more dependency on foreign oil
The US builds alternate energyinfrastructure for energy independence
Taxation is equal for all; either aflat tax; or an equal percentage tax

[montanasian]

09:55 PM on 11/23/2011

Is this a multiple choice? I'll pick B.

[Murikawa]

12:20 AM on 11/24/2011

Add three more-Completely eliminate off shore Tax havens,which have 20 trillion dollars hidden or stashed away by large corporations and the 1%er's!
Commit to law that if the Government goes over budget in their spending,exempts those currently in the House and Senate from being re-elected ANY time in the future,they forfeit any chance of ever getting back into office!
Stop all special interest lobbyist from living in Washington D.C.,or having any contact with ANY publically elected official!

[BJF79]

03:11 PM on 11/23/2011

God, those masks are creepy.

[TJHorne]

03:37 PM on 11/23/2011

God is creepy, a deluge of lies.

[BJF79]

05:08 PM on 11/23/2011

Somebody needs a hug!

[Merrell Michael]

02:53 PM on 11/24/2011

Happy thanksgiving and a Blessed Christmas to you!

[Siebenstein]

07:19 PM on 11/23/2011

Intimidating , and that's good and the whole idea.

[Daemon Process]

02:34 PM on 11/23/2011

Occupy the Universe.

[Candide33]

02:02 PM on 11/23/2011

" Voilà! In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate. This visage, no mere veneer of vanity, is a vestige of the vox populi, now vacant, vanished. However, this valorous visitation of a bygone vexation stands vivified and has vowed to vanquish these venal and virulent vermin vanguarding vice and vouchsafing the violently vicious and voracious violation of volition! The only verdict is vengeance; a vendetta held as a votive, not in vain, for the value and veracity of such shall one day vindicate the vigilant and the virtuous. [laughs] Verily, this vichyssoise of verbiage veers most verbose, so let me simply add that it's my very good honour to meet you and you may call me "V"."

[Merrell Michael]

02:58 PM on 11/24/2011

Oh come on dude, your quoting an Alan Moore comic book.

[Candide33]

04:42 PM on 11/24/2011

Yep, I sure am and I am not a dude, I am an old lady but I like Moore's social commentary. Like Aristophanes and Orwell and Voltaire he gets away with focusing a laser on social ills without ever directly naming names, but you know who or what he is talking about.

[TJHorne]

01:47 PM on 11/23/2011

Authoritarians don't like OWS, neither do Totalitarians.

[IndependentGadfly]

02:22 PM on 11/23/2011

But that's what they're going to end up with.

[TJHorne]

02:27 PM on 11/23/2011

Police statists want to smash the OWS, statism is what we have now.

[kibibi]

12:06 AM on 11/26/2011

especially if they think not voting and just giving the country totally to the crazies of the T-baggers, if you think things are bad now, wait until the country is given to the right wing crazies, pepper spray and rubber bullets, HA! I laugh, we will become like Egypt and Sierra, Kent State ring any bells to anyone

[ghkusa]

01:50 PM on 11/26/2011

“Authoritar­ians don't like OWS, neither do Totalitari­ans.”

But, TJH, isn't there ample evidence that civil libertarians have ample cause to dislike Occupiers? See, for example:

"This is what democracy looks like…in hell."
http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2011/11/23/this-is-what-democracy-looks-like-in-hell/

PS: Concerning authoritar­ians and totalitari­ans, I think of totalitarians as being a type of authoritarian, that is, an authoritarian with significant technology and an inclination to exercise minute control over the lives of citizens and a desire to eliminate all independent institutions -- churches, unions, etc. Am I ignoring something?

So, I'd refer to them as "totalitarians and other authoritarians". You know, like those who would eliminate churches and banks!

.

[TJHorne]

04:41 PM on 11/26/2011

Totalitarians are opposed to civil disobedience, authoritarians support police suppression of protesters.

[Candide33]

01:35 PM on 11/23/2011

"He promised you order, he promised you peace, and all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent."

V

[IndependentGadfly]

01:36 PM on 11/23/2011

This ain't Hollywood and Guy Fawkes was no hero ....

[Candide33]

01:47 PM on 11/23/2011

It is not Guy Fawkes ... it is Allen Moore's V ... the rest of us know what it is.