28.Jul.2009 Shepard Fairey: Supply & Demand
Last week I went to the ICA in Boston to see the exhibition Shepard Farey: Supply & Demand. I’ve always liked his style and I was very interested in seeing more of what he has done. I was also very interested in learning more about his thought process behind his work.
It was a HUGE exhibit. I’ve never seen any exhibit at the ICA with so much art work and so much information about the art and artist. You enter the exhibit facing a wall covered but 11×17 prints of the OBEY giant, behind that wall was a room filled with variations of OBEY and how/why that became an icon for Fairey. The next room was covered with multi layered art pieces. The next room was filled with skate desks and music posters. The room after that was a few of his political posters and iconic posters along with some of his personal possessions, like his first silkscreen for OBEY, his sneakers, a letter from Obama and his limited edition bookcovers for George Orwell’s Animal Farm and 1984. In the gift shop I bought his 1984 edition, it was just too sweet to pass up.
Anyways, the exhibit ends with this beautiful wall mural (image at the top) opposite a wall of at least 50 11-17 posters. I just can’t get over how much of his work they had there. There was also a side room that was playing a video about Shepard Fairey. It showed his personal studio, a time laps of him creating the mural in the image at the top and also showed him on the streets of Boston and New York working in the public. He seems like such a awesome guy. His message may be a little typical but it’s something that is presented to us in a unique manor. I was really blown away by his message, not because it was something new but because of the way he reminds everyone of power. Here is a really good article about the show Boston Globe
Also the ICA is showing the movie They Live this month because of the influence it had on Fairey. I kind of want to go just to see this movie play in a well respected art Museum
Image Sources:http://www.roxx.com/2009/03/shepard-fairey-at-the-ica/
http://www.icaboston.org/exhibitions/exhibit/fairey/
http://www.highsnobiety.com/news/tag/poster/