Shepard Fairey's life in five artworks

The second episode of the EyesOnMagazine x Blakshop column

His works are exhibited in major art museums, demonstrating their extraordinary expressive power; some of his graphics have become true icons of contemporary pop culture, entering and shaping the collective imagination from its very foundations; the brand he founded, OBEY, has become synonymous with political, social, and environmental activism, establishing itself as a highly effective tool for conveying his messages.

The person who did all this has a name, Frank Shepard Fairey, and today we will try to tell his life story in five graphics. This is such a difficult task that in the end there will be seven graphics, but it doesn't matter, because Shepard's art is so vast that 100 graphics would not be enough to tell his story properly. In any case, let's dive now into this journey through the creativity of one of the most influential artists of recent decades.

It is the summer of 1989, and Shepard Fairey is attending the Rhode Island School of Design. The previous year he had completed his studies at Idyllwild Arts Academy, and his artistic talent was also developing from a more academic perspective. In short, Shepard did not come from a particularly poor family, nor was he a person driven by the need to avenge the world's injustices.

"Andre the Giant Has a Posse," his most iconic graphic, therefore wasn't born in a particularly demanding context, but during a tutoring session with a fellow student: Shepard saw a photo of the wrestler André the Giant in a newspaper, and decided to reproduce it with a stencil, creating a sticker destined to become a part of contemporary art history.

A sticker to which, paradoxically, not even he himself ever attributed any precise meaning. On the contrary, according to what is reported on the Obey Giant website, “the sticker has no meaning, but exists only to provoke reactions, be contemplated and generate meanings.”

The triptych "Hope", "Sold" and "Forward" is our invention, because Shepard doesn't have it and will never consider it as such.

Yet, it is interesting to note how these three political works managed to convey extremely complex messages with extraordinary effectiveness and simplicity, despite having been created in three very different contexts: with "Hope," Shepard wanted to emphasize his support for Barack Obama's candidacy, seen as a source of renewed hope for the United States, particularly after the turbulent presidency of George W. Bush; with "Sold," Shepard aimed to draw attention to political corruption, depicting the fictional politician Honest Gil Fulbright in the same style as "Hope"; finally, with "Forward," Shepard renewed his faith in American Democrats, identifying Kamala Harris as the driving force of the American spirit, constantly projected toward the future.

It's 2014, and in Braamfontein, a neighborhood in Johannesburg, a gigantic mural of Nelson Mandela appears. The American ambassador to South Africa says it's a huge exclamation mark placed in the heart of one of the capitals of the African nation, but some are a bit puzzled: what does "The Purple Shall Govern" mean, and why is the entire work characterized by the recurring use of the color purple?

This is an accurate quote and, paradoxically, it does not refer to Mandela's election, but to an earlier event: on September 2, 1989, the police decided to disperse a group of pro-Mandela demonstrators using a purple-dyed water cannon, making their identification and incarceration easier. That protest for democracy, therefore, went down in history as the "Purple Rain protest."

Donald Trump, an extremely wealthy businessman who had always claimed he didn't want to enter politics, has just been elected the 45th president in United States history. It is an extraordinarily divisive moment that does not leave Shepard indifferent: true to his ideals, in 2017 the Charleston artist decided to launch a work destined to enter the collective imagination.

The work is called "We the People" and depicts three girls: one of Arab descent, one of Latin American descent, and an African American. All three are distinguished by colors that clearly refer to the American flag, demonstrating that the sense of belonging to a nation is something that goes beyond physical appearance.

The three girls are also accompanied by three different yet equally powerful claims: “Are Greater than Fear”, “Defend Dignity”, “Protect Each Other”.

Conforming to a standard has never been Shepard Fairey’s style. For this reason, the very famous phrase “Make Love Not War” became, for the artist Shepard, “Make Art Not War,” maintaining the anti-war constant but changing the alternative to war, which went from being love to being art (which, in some ways, can be seen as a form of love for others).

The first work in which we find this idea is difficult to place in time: all that is known is that it was made by Shepard between 2003 and 2011, when a part of the US Army was engaged in Iraq. However, Shepard's references are known; he was inspired by posters from the 1960s that called for an end to the bloody Vietnam War.

The second, however, was made in 2014, with the same message and colours, but without a female face in the centre: in its place, a chained rose with a cryptic meaning, difficult to grasp. Perhaps, even meaningless. Because that, as happened with Andre The Giant, is something we have to find ourselves.