I”m a fan of Shepard Fairey, so I am no doubt biased. But, I don’t see why it strikes anyone as surprising that Fairey uses other people’s imagery in his work.
To me, Fairey is much more graphic designer than he is artist. Us designers make quite a little habit of compiling graphics, type, photos, and the like from disparate sources into new compositions. It’s what we do.
Fairey shouldn’t try to pawn off the appropriations of other people’s work as his own any more than Dr. Dre should claim that he wrote the musical hook for California Love (he didn’t, it’s from Joe Cocker’s “Woman to Woman”) or Notorious B.I.G. should claim he created the groove for Big Poppa (it’s a sample from The Isley Brother’s “Between the Sheets”) — but that doesn’t mean he shouldn’t use it. Borrowing bits and pieces of material and working them into a new original composition is hardly plagiarism.
Fairey samples, just like musical artists do all the time. What’s the big deal?
001 // bernie // 11.30.2007 // 12:10 PM
Its kind of a weird argument considering that Fairey’s work has used appropriated images from the beginning. It’s not like he his trying to pull one over on his audience.
BTW - His book is outstanding.
002 // admonkey // 12.02.2007 // 8:53 AM
Mark Vallen is simply trying to jumpstart his go-nowhere career by bashing someone who actually HAS one. It’s a time-honored tradition among the second-rate and failing. The fact that he passed out literature— including HIS OWN ART— amongst those standing in line at Fairey’s show ought to tell you he’s simply an opportunist out to raise his own profile. If he were truly interested in constructive dialogue he would have picked up the phone and made the local call to Fairey to ask him about it. Then, if he wasn’t satisfied with the answers— or at least wanted to include them— he could have offered up the other side of the coin. Instead, he posted a shrill call of “Look at Me!” in hopes of selling a few more canvases of his Jr. High caliber artwork. Pretty sad, really.
003 // pulling cards // 12.07.2007 // 4:06 PM
I have never liked shepard fairy’s trash. He has never once done nothing original. I can’t believe anyone buys into that fake propaganda nonsense. Its awesome to see him get called out after ripping people off for years. Karma is great!
004 // SMELLYALATER // 12.11.2007 // 6:52 PM
Shepard Fairey is a thief and a hack. Most of his “art” is directly stolen from political artists (mostly minorities) who sacrificed a great deal in order to make art which, in their time, was both unpopular and unsupported. The artists who Fairey rips off have never seen a dime from the Fairey Empire, let alone a measly acknowledgment or credit. This has enraged many political artists and activists who feel he is destroying the movement by his commodification of its imagery and history. PS-The article Mark wrote (and may I say that I know both Mark and Shepard personally) was not only his brainchild, but a collaboration between himself and TWO OTHER VERY WELL KNOWN political artists and activists IN ADDITION TO an ART HISTORIAN (UNLIKE YOU)!!!! And yes, all of us political artists CAN’T WAIT until karma kicks Shepard in the ass. Then all that “art” you have collected of his will be worthless and the joke will be on you.
005 // Jeff Croft // 12.11.2007 // 7:02 PM
@Smellyalater:
First of all, well done on the maturity. For such a wannabe intellectual, you sure know how to come off like an 8th grade girl.
Second, I haven’t collected a single peice of Shepard’s art, and I’m not sure what makes you think I have. Nice try, though.
Third, I said clearly that I think Shepard is a designer, not an artist, which makes every single one of your points moot.
Sorry to dissapoint you.
006 // jeff // 12.13.2007 // 2:11 PM
Fairey promotes himself as an artist though. He has gallery showings, he is in art magazines such as Juxtapoz, and sells “originals” of his work. Even if he were a “designer” it does not justify his actions. It’s equivalent to taking Saul Bass’s AT&T logo, changing the colors and copy below it and calling it one’s own. I am a designer I would never think of blatantly taking an illustration from someone else’s work and calling it mine. It’s laziness and plagiarism.
Whereas some artists take images and add meaning, Mark Vallen correctly points out that Fairey takes images that have meaning and effectively removes all emotion and context from them. He transforms historical images into promotional items for his Obey brand. He demeans the original work by making it nothing more than a sales tool for himself.
As far as “borrowing bits and pieces of material and working them into a new original composition,” I would hardly considering the works illustrated in the article to have taken “bits and pieces.” Tracing an illustration and adding Andre the Giant’s face and the word “obey” doesn’t make a work original.
007 // Lazarus // 01.09.2008 // 4:10 PM
Mark sucks, his drawings are stiff and boring. Shepard isn’t ripping anyone off any more than Andy Warhol, Richard Prince. What a douche.