Yo, Shepard Fairey is straight up SAD!

I have recently been asked about why it is that I dislike Shepard Fairey. Its actually not that I dislike Shepard as a person, its more that I have a big problem with his practices. I find them to be unethical and I believe that the political spectrum of people trying to make social change in the world will ultimately not benefit from his art. I believe that as artists and activists, we should be open about critiquing each other and open to changing how it is that we do things. That is what movements did before us .The Black Panthers consistently criticized each other in order to make assessments, and grow, as people, as an organization, and as a movement. We should never be closed to critique because in doing so we are doing ourselves a disservice. I would love to have the opportunity to talk to Shepard about my critiques, but the word on the street is that he does not like to debate about this stuff. Again, I have to say that this is not a personal attack, Shepard is actually in a book I co-edited with Josh MacPhee, Reproduce and Revolt, and it's not my intention to smear him nor censor him. Rather, my intention is to provide a look at his practices from the perspective a woman of color, an artist activist, and a person who thinks our capitalist system is very flawed.

Today a friend shared an article which you can read by clicking here. The title of the article is "Consumers of the World Unite," based on the phrase, "Workers of the World, Unite!" The title itself says alot of Fairey's practices, which is, that he commodifies political movements with the intention of making HUGE profits from them. Read the article and judge for yourself. It's sad to me that me that in our ultra consumer world, EVERYTHING is up for grabs when it's about profit. Very similar to how Hip Hop started in our communities, was even illegal in some forms, then repurposed, and is now sold back to us, by the very forces that also put our people in jail, deport our families, and push for bail outs in which the people ultimately pay the price. The article starts like this:

"SHOPPING, these days, is a political act. If you are brave enough to buy a $2,000 Prada handbag, you might rationalize that you are helping to stimulate the economy. Solidarity, people!"

Read more about Shepard Fairey's practices:

This article here was researched by myself and many others:
http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm

This article here was written by my fellow co-editor, Josh MacPhee:
http://www.justseeds.org/blog/2007/12/a_response_to_obey_plagiarist_1.html

This article was written originally for release in Mother Jones, but Mother Jones then refused to run it, and then instead ran a very pro-Fairey piece:
http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2008/06/97988.html

Here is an open letter to Shepard from a powerful sister who works at KPFK, Aura Bogado.
http://tothecurb.wordpress.com/2008/05/29/i-have-a-name-an-open-letter-to-shepard-fairey/

Comments

[Morgan]

Favianna, thanks for writing this. I must say I was surprised to see Shepard's work in the book. What's straight up saddest for me is that I think he could be doing what he does with greater accountability and responsibility without much more effort, but fundamentally I think he would need to be a different person. There's a fine line between the way Shepard Fairey presents his art and the way that Josh MacPhee presents his: two white male graphic artists who catapult echoes from political graphics of the past into our present-day socio-visual landscape. The main difference is the personality that makes the art: Shepard is Shepard and Josh is Josh. One is the real deal, creating, curating and cataloguing art that is truly dedicated to social change. The other is just "the other white meat."

[Valerie]

I looked, at his page, repeatedly,

Since they started the killing in Gaza.

Hoping he would say something.

Nothing.

Nothing at all.

[Benevolent Sociopath]

Every "career" artist uses art as a subjective opportunity to bolster there class standing and careers by riding the wave of perception that their art invokes on the public mind.

This Shepard guy just happens to be good at it and everyone else is jealous

get over it.

[jeremy roberts]

interesting enough, super touch has posted a response to all this obey plagarism:
http://www.supertouchart.com/2009/02/02/editorial-the-medium-is-the-message-shepard-fairey-and-the-art-of-appropriation/