Shepard Fairey or "The Man Who Started It All"

Okay.

I just finished my post on Banksy when I realized I hadn't done anything on the history of stencil art. So instrad of copying and pasting off of wikipedia, I can introduce you to another really good artist, by the name of Frank Shepard Fairey, known to most as Shepard Fairey. He is, in some sense, partially responsible for the rise of stencil culture in the American Sub-conscious. "How is that possible?" Well, with the help of man named Andre the Giant.

Shepard Fairey was once a young boy just like you, just like me, unless you're a girl, and then it's my apologies. Anyway, Shepard fairey was already steeped in making stencils, having attended the Rhode Island School of Design. Then one fateful day, a friend asked him for a lesson in stencil production. As an example, Fairey began making a scrap stencil out of the face of Andre the Giant, a wrestler of that time. When he began putting up stickers and stencils of the face, with the word "OBEY" tattooed in large black letters across New York City, the idea took off like wildefire. Dubbed, the "Andre the Giant has a Posse" campaign, the image spread to the far corners of the globe and propelled Fairey to heights of fame, unknow by most mortal men.

Now, Shepard Fairey is the head of a clothing company, a magazine publisher, and a msuic label, all from posting a small face on walls with spray paint. The "OBEY" image has become a symbol for social unrest and the questioning of one's society, as well as a strong undercurrent of pro socialist, marxist, and communist sympathies. Now, Fairey runs three companies and DJ's in his spare time, which I find ridiculous...ridiculously awsome. He doesn' have time to be running away form the police for vandalism. Fortunately, he has a group of dedicated followers who have carried on the image of Andre the Giant, and the "OBEY" face. It does my heart good every time I see it.

WRECKOGNIZE!

duchamp