artist/ Fairey

États-Unis

Shepard Fairey is an American street artist, serigrapher and illustrator born in Charleston (South Carolina) in 1970. He studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, graduating with a Master of Arts in Illustration. In the early 1990s, he made a name for himself with a sticker campaign entitled “André the Giant has a Posse”, which later became the “Obey Giant” campaign. The campaign began in Providence and then spread across the United States and to thousands of locations around the world.

A committed street artist, Shepard Fairey most often executes portraits of personalities or muses representing a cause that he supports or denounces, by showing his bias in the representation of his models. He chooses colour ranges that are consistent with each model represented, colours that represent them and their world. Influenced by the artworks of Andy Warhol and Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko, Shepard Fairey is one of the leading figures in street art today.

In 2008, he gained worldwide recognition for his “Hope” poster in support of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Shepard Fairey played an active role in the campaign, distributing 300,000 stickers and 500,000 posters at his own expense. By having his work printed in large quantities, from stickers to serigraphs, he accentuated his commitment to spreading a message to the general public.