Shepard Fairey, the Controversial Street Artist

Often described as a Street artist, Shepard Faireys name first began to appear in the news for wheat pasting (a method of adorning public spaces with the artists own posters by way of a water and wheat mixture—like a wallpaper paste), sticker tagging, and the numerous accompanying arrests that now comprise his official criminal record. Hes best known for his painting of Obama in 2008  titled Hope  and his poster from 1992 titled Obey, which inspired a clothing line of the same name. I think the Obey icon image finds a balance between goofy and creepy, humorous and monolithic. I consider the image the counter-culture Big Brother. Id like to think of it as a sign or symbol that people are watching Big Brother as well. Ive had people ranging from anarchists to the president of the National Reserve Bank embrace my work and I think the more diverse the audience is, the more potential for interesting dialogue there is.—Stepard  Fairey Early Life and Training Shepard Fairey was Frank Shepard Fairey born on February 15, 1970, in Charleston, South Carolina. The son of a physician, Shepard Fairey fell in love with making art at age 14. After graduating from the prestigious Idyllwild School of Music and the Arts in Idyllwild, California in 1988, he was accepted at the Rhode Island School of Design. (If youre not familiar with this fine institution, RISD is almost ridiculously hard to get into and enjoys a sterling reputation as a training ground for working artists.) Fairey graduated in 1992 with a B.F.A. in Illustration. From the Street to Art While attending RISD, Fairey had a part-time job in a Providence skateboarding shop. The marginalized, underground culture there (where styles are out as soon as theyre in) synthesized with that rarified art school culture and Faireys ongoing interests in punk music and stenciling his own punk music t-shirts. Everything meshed on the day a friend asked him how to create a stencil. Fairey demonstrated with a newspaper ad for a professional wrestling match featuring Andre the Giant which was the most banal image he could have grabbed. Tantalizing what if possibilities began to cross Faireys mind. It came to pass that Fairey, who had only recently become aware of Graffiti Art, took his Obey stencils and stickers to the streets. Andre the Giant famously gained a posse and Faireys name was launched. Controversy Around Faireys Work Fairey has often been accused of plagiarizing other artists work. In some cases, even casual examination of these claims shows almost verbatim copying with little transformation. While some of the older, political propaganda works are in the public domain, others are not. The real issue seems to be that Fairey copyrights these appropriations, enforces his copyrights and profits from them. There are a lot of different people who’s  [sic]  work I like that arent necessarily aesthetic influences, but conceptual—and there are some that are aesthetic. I’m inspired by John VanHammersfeld who did a lot of psychedelic poster graphics and one of my earliest Obey Giant graphics was my knock of his iconic Hendrix graphic. My work is very much a melting pot of a lot of different influences.—Stepard  Fairey Fairey also disappointed a segment of his fans by not remaining a cult figure and beginning to make money as an artist. Conversely, his messages calling for social and political change are sincere, he donates heavily to causes and he keeps a staff of assistant artists gainfully employed. Many parallels can be drawn between Faireys image sources and those of Andy Warhol, who is now celebrated in the art world. Only time will tell if Fairey attains Warholian status, but he gained a lasting place in history for the HOPE poster during Barack Obamas 2008 Presidential campaign. Sources Fairey, Shepard. E Pluribus Venom.Berkeley : Gingko Press, 2008.Fairey, Shepard. Obey: Supply Demand : The Art of Shepard Fairey.Berkeley : Gingko Press, 2006.MacPhee, Josh. Stencil Pirates.New York : Soft Skull Press, 2004.Shepard Fairey (biography at thegiant.org)Retrieved 27 January 2009

The Gilded Age A Powerhouse Rose From The Ashes Of The...

Progressives in the Gilded Age The Gilded Age: A powerhouse rose from the ashes of the Civil War. From the Civil War until about 1896, the Gilded Age was born. The United States was going through an era of governmental, fiscal and societal restructuring. Gilded Age got its name because Mark Twain seen as a period where everything seemed to be well on the surface but beneath was a scheme of political dishonesty and self-indulgence. Around this time, the affluent upper class was created due to the explosion of the population and economy. The stock market crash of 1893 which caused a severe depression across the land, caused this era to only last for a short few years, 1877-1893. With the Gold Rush, victory of Western enlargement, and the†¦show more content†¦The 15th amendment hadn’t held up to its intended purpose as far as advancing voting rights to all, which caused the Women Rights movement to make a comeback. It is easy to look at this time frame as a period of dishonesty, noticeable greed, and unrestricted entrepreneurship. However, this should be seen as the formative period of the United States when framers moved into a metropolitan culture that was dominated by industrial companies. The economy seen remarkable progress thanks to the trade and industry transformation. The US Economy was growing at an alarming rate in the late 19th century. Even with the Panics like 1893, the economy recuperated rapidly and still continued to flourish. Rapid and economic depression brought back equilibrium into society during a known complex time. The Gilded Age commence a somewhat unhappy American social realism, that capital is supremacy and is meant to improve the owners and not the public. The Progressive Age: The Progressive time frame is from 1890’s to 1920’s, also known as the Reconstruction Era. However, this movement wasn’t knew too many as there had been a first reform that occurred before the Civil War which had the similar goals but also included the abolishment of slavery. Like the Gilded Age, the Progressive Era is known for its of governmental and societal restructuring. The first generation of progressives stood firmly against Darwinism. They felt the problems of society like racism

Us and Them Essay Free Essays

The story of â€Å"Us and Them† consists of three types of irony: situational, dramatic, and verbal. These types make the story more interesting as a reader. Irony can be used in the sense of tricking the reader into one thing happening, but a completely other event takes place. We will write a custom essay sample on Us and Them Essay or any similar topic only for you Order Now This keeps the reader intrigued and is excited to see what happens next due to the fact that nothing is predictable. In the story, the child uses a variety of irony, an example of dramatic irony is when Sedaris is spying on the Tomkeys and they are not aware of this. This is an example of dramatic irony because the author of the story knows something that the characters don’t. This can entertain the readers by going into the Tomkeys lives without them knowing it. The second type of irony is situational, an example in the story is when the Tomkeys show up at the Sedaris’s house a day after Halloween, the author’s mom makes him and his sisters go get their candy wanting not to be rude, the author starts rating the candy, rating from best to least. After a couple minutes of stalling, his mother barges into his room and starts gathering the candy herself, he starts to stuff his face with the chocolate where he has mentioned before that he gets bad headaches from this candy. This is a type of situational irony because you would not have expected Sedaris to eat the candy that would make him have a terrible headache just so that the Tomkeys couldn’t have it. The third type of irony is verbal, an example in the story is when the author’s mother tells him to look at himself, the reader would probably expect something else as in a mirror, but the author actually takes a moment to reflect on his behavior and look at how he has acted toward the Tomkeys all because they don’t watch TV. This is a good example of verbal irony because this keeps the reader entertained by seeing a new side of the author thats not completely indulged in the Tomkeys’s lives. All of these different types of irony can make almost any story interesting and hard to put down, the reader may find it intriguing to expect one thing and completely have another event take place. In this story you will get three different types of irony all at different points in the story, so never will the story be a boring read. How to cite Us and Them Essay, Essays