Is Shepard Fairee a master of plagiarism or an art revolutionary?

Today, Shepard Fairy is known as the most vivid representative of pop art, a creative artist and graphic designer. In the world of art, he burst into bright and "talking" pictures and immediately aroused a lot of controversy around him, which has not abated until now. The artist works under the pseudonym Obey, which means "obey," "obey," and all his work as if asks to listen to the world and peer into the surrounding realities. But critics-skeptics try to be caught in the deception of the artist. Who is he: a plagiarist or an art revolutionary?

Biography

Shepard Fairy was born in Charleston (USA) in the family of an ordinary physician. But already from childhood he showed the abilities of not an ordinary child. He was fond of punk rock and DIY-art (which means "do it yourself"). The first creative steps were made by painting the clothes and skateboards of friends, already "armed" with a well-known pseudonym.

At 22, Shepard is behind the Rhode Island School of Design for the class of fine arts and several directions for choosing a creative path. Graphic design and music became the first step of the artist's career ladder. After a while Shepard's works are exhibited in Boston and immediately impress. The designer is associated with three styles: graffiti, pop and public art.

In 2003, Fairy opened his own design agency. Today, his works are included in the collections of several museums, art institutes in the US and Britain.

Several times the artist was arrested for drawing graffiti in public places and putting up posters.

Creation

As an artist, Shepard Faire always had the ability to respond vividly and in an original way to what is happening in the world. His paintings are a reflection of ideological, religious, political and environmental problems. World fame for the artist came in 2008 with a poster for the election campaign of Barack Obama. The creation received the symbolic name Hope (or "Hope"), which in many respects affected the course of the elections.

Shepard Fairy immediately formed a unique creative handwriting. His paintings are recognizable, in their color palette and style of performance, Soviet posters resemble. According to the artist, the great influence on him was the work of Martin Heidegger and Alexander Rodchenko.

Commercial design

For some time after graduating from design school, Faire worked in the printing house and made stickers, stickers, posters and T-shirts of an advertising nature. Later, he moved to "partisan" marketing and realized himself in major projects Adidas and Pepsi. It is Fae who owns the logo of the Mozilla Foundation, the creator of the Firefox browser. Also significant is the collaboration of the designer with the musical groups Black Eyed Peas and Smashing Pumkins, with which he designed the album covers.

According to Fairee himself, the choice of products for advertising is carried out first of all from moral positions, and not commercial ones.

Graffiti

Less than anything for colleagues and connoisseurs of art Shepard Fairey showed himself in street art. However, his work in this direction also attracts attention. Graffiti painters say Fairy skillfully and actively exploits popular social themes, but this does not yet make him a master of street art. The work of Obey in the style of graffiti is more a "guerilla" marketing or advertising, which, of course, is far from street art. Simply put, they are not connected with the street, the interaction of space and people. Despite this assessment, Shepard Faire often arranges exhibitions in galleries of Europe and the USA and always receives a warm welcome and attention to her work.

Criticism

On the creative path of Shepard Fairy has always been uneasy and exciting. There are critics-skeptics who are looking for and seem to find evidence of plagiarism of the artist's works. Among them are art historian Lincoln Cushing and artist Josh McPhee. Their doubts are caused by the style and shapes that Shepard Faire uses. His paintings, like photocopies, do not have any clear lines or strokes. And the images used by the artist are beaten and familiar to everyone.

Any representative of art, one way or another, falls under the influence of predecessors. He adopts, reinterprets, transforms and shapes his own unique style. In the opinion of critics, Shepard only copied other people's work with minor changes and stylization and betrays her own. So, often remember the scandal surrounding the work of Shepard, dedicated to the star of the wrestling Andre Gigant. After WWE threatened the artist with a lawsuit, accusing him of using a registered trademark, Fairy changed the portrait of the wrestler and the slogan to Obey. It is noteworthy that one of the variants of Andre the Giant for the composition is similar to the Soviet poster by Dmitry Moore "Wrote in volunteers?".

The cause of the litigation was the most famous work of Fairy - Hope. Then the Associated Press agency accused the artist of using the 2006 Obama image made at the request of this agency.

PS

Creativity Shepard Fairy brings the designer profits and fame, accusations and arrests. But the Rhode Island School of Design can still be proud of its graduate. After all, despite all the suspicions and claims from the authorities and critics, Fairy was and remains a versatile, lively and fashionable artist. His work, if not turned the world, then influenced the "public discourse".