Tuesday, February 17, 2009

street art as status quo



Shepard Fairey is supposedly on a "quest to challenge the status quo and disrupt our sense of complacency through art." He was after all, arrested on his way to the opening of his retrospective at the I.C.A in Boston. As Peter Schjeldahl says "What isn't status quo about political rage? And have you met anyone not heavily medicated who strikes you as complacent lately? The retrospective is dated on arrival. Oddly, Fairey's splendid tour de force for Obama anticipated a new national mood, of serious-minded pragmatism, which makes ideological extremes seem sort of quaint. I found myself regarding the show as strangely wholesome, like a vaccine that defeats the virus it imitates." Obama personally thanked Fairey for helping him get elected. Where does all the White House and white box condoning leave Shepard Fairey with his countercultural street cred?

2 comments:

p0ps ( Stephen L. Harlow ) said...

- Obama created a personality worth capturing.

- The photographer created a photograph of Obama's intriguing expression.

- Shepard created an inspired icon that delivered the essence of the
Obama campaign.

The AP paid the photographer, the distributing press paid the AP, the
public paid Sheppard. Obama thanked Sheppard. It's done.

We need to insist on our absolute right to transform any part of the
world into art.

The bean-counters, shysters and governing ne'er-do-wells who want
attention for their vapidity, are rightfully ignored. If they get in
our way, we owe it to humanity to knock 'em down.

FREE SHEP!!

jkarah said...

I'm with you.

thanks for the comment....