Shepard Fairey is an American contemporary street artist, graphic designer and activist. Emerging from the skateboarding scene, the artist became an international phenomenon after his 1989 ‘Andre the Giant has a Posse’ sticker campaign, which evolved into the ‘Obey Giant’ campaign and subsequently into the renowned clothing brand Obey. His art is based on idealizing images bearing social critique and displayed in public spaces in the shape of posters, stickers, murals or prints. Shepard Fairey is also famous for his 2008 iconic and controversial ‘HOPE’ portrait supporting Barack Obama’s presidential candidacy, dubbed ‘the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’’.
Shepard Fairey’s work is held in the collections of The Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, among others.
