Shepard Fairey has been subtly demanding obedience for decades. Unconscious stares meet the face of his ubiquitous image of the late professional wrestler Andre the Giant in the streets of nearly every major city worldwide. Stickered haphazardly onto street signs, plastered to overpasses and billboards, the graphic, propaganda-esque portrait of Andre stares through dark black eyes, silently commanding “OBEY.” Or is the command to dis-obey? Such are the sardonic messages behind much of street artist Fairey’s bold images. It is this kind of image- daring and unforgettable- and the “viral nature” of Fairey’s work that garnered the artist his street credibility in the early 1990s. Evolving over the past twenty years from his beginnings as an
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Titled “Power and Glory,” Fairey’s new exhibition seeks to question, “Whose power? Whose glory?” He explores political and economic themes that draw attention to the destructive forms of capitalism, a system he calls “awesome” but one in which there “must be referees.” Fairey feels the idea of the American Dream to be increasingly impossible to achieve, and yet advertisers manipulate people into believing the dream is alive, “rather than reveal that it’s further out of reach in the last 30 years.” The second of five murals, a mural titled “Power and Glory,” stretches across the 50-foot exterior wall of a local artist studio in Fairey’s traditional color palate of red, black, blue, and cream. At its center in stenciled capital letters, the mural features the phrase “ENJOY POWER AND GLORY WHILE THEY LAST.” Fairey is hinting at the notion that America as a power is an idea that is sure to be slipping away, if it hasn’t already gone entirely. By using the word “enjoy,” the artist also evokes the language of advertisement, much like the phrasing of Coca-Cola ads. The “Power and Glory” exhibition seeks to address the importance of letting go of old notions such as “a belief in America’s industrial dominance or the idea that the American dream is accessible to everyone when the gap between the middle class and the wealthy is growing,” states Fairey. In order to critique propaganda that seeks to portray America as a world power, a land of dreams, Fairey’s mural appears as propaganda itself, broken with layered decorative flourishes such as flowers, stars, and diagonal stripes. A segment of beautiful red and blue flowers rips away to expose a hazardous red flame within a triangle, a play on the triangular design found on US currency. Underneath the flame are the words “TO THE FUTURE,” a foreboding prediction. The use of monetary symbolism drives home
Titled “Power and Glory,” Fairey’s new exhibition seeks to question, “Whose power? Whose glory?” He explores political and economic themes that draw attention to the destructive forms of capitalism, a system he calls “awesome” but one in which there “must be referees.” Fairey feels the idea of the American Dream to be increasingly impossible to achieve, and yet advertisers manipulate people into believing the dream is alive, “rather than reveal that it’s further out of reach in the last 30 years.” The second of five murals, a mural titled “Power and Glory,” stretches across the 50-foot exterior wall of a local artist studio in Fairey’s traditional color palate of red, black, blue, and cream. At its center in stenciled capital letters, the mural features the phrase “ENJOY POWER AND GLORY WHILE THEY LAST.” Fairey is hinting at the notion that America as a power is an idea that is sure to be slipping away, if it hasn’t already gone entirely. By using the word “enjoy,” the artist also evokes the language of advertisement, much like the phrasing of Coca-Cola ads. The “Power and Glory” exhibition seeks to address the importance of letting go of old notions such as “a belief in America’s industrial dominance or the idea that the American dream is accessible to everyone when the gap between the middle class and the wealthy is growing,” states Fairey. In order to critique propaganda that seeks to portray America as a world power, a land of dreams, Fairey’s mural appears as propaganda itself, broken with layered decorative flourishes such as flowers, stars, and diagonal stripes. A segment of beautiful red and blue flowers rips away to expose a hazardous red flame within a triangle, a play on the triangular design found on US currency. Underneath the flame are the words “TO THE FUTURE,” a foreboding prediction. The use of monetary symbolism drives home