Shepard Fairy

  

  One of the most prominent contemporary artists of political commentary is activist Shepard Fairey. Who “rose to international prominence with his Obama 'HOPE' poster in 2008. The piece was created by Shepard supporting the Barak Obama's 2008 campaign, and in a TV interview on The Late Show with Stephan Colbert claimed the piece was 'genuinely optimistic gesture' following the 'very dark period of the Bush years and a lot of cynicism' (The Late Show with Steven Colbert, 2015).

  The main purpose of the poster is to convey the hope and prosperity that Obama offered to bring the United States if elected as president. The 'poster is simplistic in its imagery', incorporating the red, white and blue of the American flag, with a darkened blue image of Obama gazing into the distance. This portrays the belief that if elected Obama would lead the people to a better future, 'inviting the viewer to link Obama with the rhetoric of "progress"(Low, 2010) for America. 

  Along with a variety of other works, Fairey has most recently produced art in relation to the 2016 presidential campaign, where his criticism of Trump has become a particular point of controversy.

His poster entitled 'DEMAGOGUE', is 'a black, white and red image reminiscent of Orwellian propaganda, zooming in on Trump's puckered mouth mid-scream' (Frank, 2016). The term 'demagogue' itself refers to a political leader that seeks public support by aiming to appease to the people's desires, as appose to proposing of any coherent doctrine. In an interview with CNN, Fairey deems trump as 'dangerous' and urges voters to be as educated as possible on the real impact that his election would cause.


  In light of this, in radio interview with Larry King, Fairey speaks about the movement he established in order to shed more light upon the issue of voters ignorance. The campaign promotes the slogan 'Make America Smart Again', playing on the words of Trump's own propaganda theme 'Make America Great Again'. With the help of his website http://www.dumbisovermasa.com, Fairey's aim is to open a dialogue that promotes the understanding of the 'dynamics of our political situation' (Supertouch Art, 2016)

Doctrow, C., 2016. Shepard Fairie’s Trump poster: DEMAGOGE [Online]. Available from: https://boingboing.net/2016/11/07/shepard-faireys-trump-poster.html [Accessed 20 May 2018].

Fairey, A. and Fairey, S., 2016. ABOUT-Make America Smart Again [Online]. Available from: http://www.dumbisovermasa.com/about/ [Accessed 20 May 2018].

Frank, P., 2016. Shepard Fairey’s New Art Blatantly Condemns ‘Demagogue’ Donald Trump. The Huffington Post.
Low, J., 2010. Visual Culture in Politics: The Obama ‘Progress’ poster [Online]. Available from: http://www.e-ir.info/2010/06/28/the-visual-culture-in-politics-the-obama-“progress”-poster/. [Accessed 20 May 2018]

Scott, M., 2017. Obama Hope Poster- Shepard Fiarey (2008)- FGD1 The Archive- Medium [Online]. Available from: https://medium.com/fgd1-the-archive/obama-hope-poster-by-shepard-fairey-1307a8b6c7be [Accessed 20 May 2018].

Supertouch Art, 2016. Shepard Fairey Takes Aim at Trump on Larry King - YouTube [Online]. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEN4G9cnDB0 [Accessed 20 May 2018].