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In May, Shepard Fairey worked with 100 kids from the CityKids Foundation put together a wheat paste mural that was installed earlier this week in WFC (which happens to be the compound that I work in) So I stopped by and snapped some images for Cutratedmag.
If you have a sec, this short video is pretty cool, too. In it, Fairey explains his motivation behind doing the project with the kids, and invokes Keith Haring.
I shot a couple of galleries, recently. One of them was on Broadway, just off of the NYU Campus. It’s kind of pathetic, but, sometimes I like the space more than the stuff hung there. Anyway, when I first entered the building, the elevator lobby was decorated in Keith Haring-eque patterns. I thought “hmm, someone who lives here is a Keith Haring fan.” When I got in the elevator, I accidentally took it to the wrong floor. It turns out that K. Haring operates out of that building. Kind of a cool random coincidence.
I also hit Deitch, again. I wanted to get it semi-empty, so that I could have some cleaner images for some stuff that I’m working on. I really liked the one below.
As I was walking down Wooster, I grabbed the shot below. I wonder which sticker was there first. Hahahaha. MBW propaganda over the OBEY sticker, nice. It reminds me of the election last year, seeing Charlie Rangel’s campaign posters, with Rangel’s name above Obama’s.
Saturday night, Reagan and I attended the May Day gallery opening at the Deitch Gallery in SoHo. It’s kind of a big deal, because it is the last show for the Deitch Gallery before the owner moves off to LA to curate some museum. The other reason is because the artist is Shepard Fairey.
I wanted to get there kind of early, but track construction on the A line, made sure that didn’t happen. So we arrived amidst a sea of chaos that had already been brewing for about an hour and a half. We ended up not even being able to say what’s up to Shepard, since he was too busy being mobbed by all of the high-profile types that came out for the event.
Above, is a shot of Fairey talking to Russel Simmons. I know the shot looks totally sleazy and paparazzi-ish, but I swear it wasn’t like that.
Here is one of my favorites, from the night. As we were leaving, Tyson Beckford was coming out.
Thursday afternoon, I decided to stop by the Mural the Shepard Fairey is working on, in the East Village. I had originally wanted to go by on Wednesday, but it ended up raining like crazy. Today worked out well, though. I was on my way through the neighborhood, anyway, for the Earth Day party at Kiehl’s. Fairey was out working on the wall. After shooting a few frames I said what’s up and told him that I had met him at the TS collab with Levis. He said that he remembered me (pretty cool for him say, whether true or not), then wiped the gold spray paint off of his hand before shaking mine and asking me to remind him of my name. We then chatted for about 10 minutes about random stuff including the impending gallery exhibit, before he hooked me up with a handful of stickers, and invited me over for beers. Ok, ok, the invitation for beers was a joke.
The reason that I’m telling this story, is because I think it is so cool that despite being such an icon, Fairey has not let it go to his head. It is true that I was a fan of his art before I knew much about the guy. But the fact that has the personality and attitude to back it up makes me like his stuff even more.
Fairey was even mellow with this little kid (below) who was passing by with is parents. Can’t wait to check out the exhibit next week.
A few more shots over here.
Photo by: Reagan
Apparently Reagan was so jealous of my new summer haircut, that she ran out and got one too! Hahahah. I have to admit, her’s came out much better than mine.
Other unrelated items going on this week:
It is nice to have things to look forward to, especially since I have to put running on hold for a few days. I picked up some new sneaks yesterday. I decided to start breaking them in last night. I thought that I would be ok to 10 miles, as long as I was wearing the double layered socks. I’m retarded, and now have large painful blisters on the bottoms of both feet. 
Hopefully I will be back in saddle by Friday.
I have been a huge fan of Shepard Fairey since I first discovered his work. Despite his recent legal battles, which include the City of Boston (for illegal street art), and the Associated Press (being sued for copyright infringement, Re: the image from which is based his “change”/”hope” image), I still think that he is pretty freaking awesome. A lot of street artists feel like Fairey has sort of sold out, with his commercial projects. He did a Saks ad last year (proceeds went to charity). Then there is his Obey line of clothing. Obey is what brought him to Times Square last night. He created a live installation to promote the collaboration that Obey is doing with Levi’s. The installation was right in front of the Levi’s store in Times Square. I was covering the event for SoJones. It was pretty cool hanging out, like that, with one of my long time, idols. I had a really great time shooting it.
Sorry to bomb this post all up with so many photos, but I really liked all of these.
^—There was a pretty solid crowd spectating (like there ever isn’t one, in TS)
^–Even though this thing was probably going straight in the trash, Shep still paid attention to detail.
Below was shot from a cherry picker. I kind of liked this vantage point. I wished that I had brought more lenses.
Ken Johnson of the New York Times seems to think so. So does Jordan at Public Ad Campaign. Johnson’s NYT article gives an overview of Fairey’s career and style of art, from Fairey’s days as a student, up through his current campaign for Saks Fifth Avenue. The article focuses on Fairey’s current exhibit in Boston observing that,
Despite its rousing first impact, the exhibition leaves you with a sense of dismay at the devolution of a certain avant-garde dream into a kind of visual easy listening for the college-educated masses.
Ouch. As PAC points out, even though the Saks campaign is a probono exercise to benefit charity, it still doesn’t quite sit right, saying “Oh Shep, I know this ones for charity too and I’m usually on your side, but this rubs me the wrong way”. I’m still on the fence.
Shepard Fairey is back at it, producing artwork for a “good cause.” The image to the left, is for a World Wildlife Foundation campaign to get everyone to turn out their lights for an hour on March 28th. Lets hope that Shep doesn’t get in any trouble for this one. He has been going through some rough times lately, including being arrested last Sunday. In addition, he is being sued by the Associated Press, for infringing copyright.
The iconic “Hope” image that was created and distributed by Fairey, during the Obama campaign, was tracked back to an Associated Press photo taken by Mannie Garcia, on assignment by AP. The AP is now suing Fairey, claiming copyright infringement. Can you image the can of worms that is liable to open? Anyone who has done a stencil, can now owe royalties to the photographer who produced the picture it was taken from? Is the guy who took the Andre the Giant photo that Fairey modeled his “Obey” campaign on, now going to come out of the woodwork demanding cash?
Fairey’s lawyers argue that there is no infringement, under the “fair use” doctrine. I feel kind of bad for the guy. I hope that he doesn’t lose this one. Can you imagine the kind of damages that he would have to pay? That “Hope” piece was EVERYWHERE. I hope that if he does lose, that the court at least takes into account the fact that the profit generated from the piece, was primarily used to print and distribute more copies.
Here is the AP photo and the Fairey piece, side by side. You be the judge.
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