Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary painter, printmaker and installation artist. His work is part of several important collections including the Smithsonian (Washington DC), the LA County Museum of Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, MoMA New York, National Gallery, Washington, ICA Boston and the Victoria & Albert Museum London. His multi-faceted, open-ended and generous artistic practice actively resists categorization. Building off of precedents set by artists such as Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, Fairey shifts easily between the realms of fine art and the commercial.
Fairey's multi-layered renderings of counter-cultural revolutionaries as well as updated and re-imagined propaganda-style posters, carry his signature graphic style, marked by his frequent use of black, white, and red, referencing Russian propagandist posters of the 1920's.
Speaking of his work, the Artist says '“The first aim of Phenomenology is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one's environment. The Obey campaign attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the campaign and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with Obey propaganda provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer's perception and attention to detail. The medium is the message.”