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Shepard Fairey

Frank “Shepard Fairey” is a contemporary American graphic artist, muralist, and overall artist. He was born on February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States. In 1988, the artist graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy in Palm Springs, California. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island in 1992. As Banksy noted, "If Shepard Fairey comes to your town, every single graffiti writer gets uptight...I am absolutely positive he has made more reaches [street art interventions] than any graffiti writer in history ever has done or ever will. And that means he's won".

As a young adult, Shepard Fairey became very interested in art and soon began to use his drawings on T-shirts and skateboards. While in school, he held a part-time job in a skateboarding shop. Soon after, his work became a hit among the skateboard community as he prolifically pasted homemade stickers for his ‘Andre the Giant Has a Posse’ campaign. It was then that he realised his desire and interest in the street art culture and graffiti movement.

His most famous art includes images of Andre the Giant, the Obey trademark, as well as the award-winning ‘Hope’ poster of Barack Obama that became the symbol of a generation. In 2008 Shepard Fairey used Obama’s image to design Time Magazine’s ‘Person of the Year’ cover. In 2011, Time Magazine commissioned the artist for a second ‘Person of the Year’ cover. His latest cover designing was in April 2020 for Rolling Stone with a portrait of Greta Thunberg.

Shepard Fairey is also famous for his activist and humanitarian concerns, often creating and donating artwork in order to promote awareness and show support. After the 2015 Paris attacks, the artist paid a tribute to the victims with the creation of a poster depicting Marianne, the French national icon, surrounded by the French motto Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité. In June 2016, Shepard Fairey reproduced the image as a mural in Paris. Fairey then offered the poster to French President Emmanuel Macron who hung it in his office. The artist also founded in 2007 the Obey Awareness Program, operated by Obey Clothing, to increase his humanitarian efforts. This program allows him to support causes he believes in by selling specially designed merchandise and donating 100% of the profits raised.

He has held numerous successful solo and group exhibitions across the world. The year 2019 was particularly marked by his solo show Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent, a reflection on the last 30 years of the artist’s career, held in the cities of Grenoble, New York, Paris, Vancouver, London, Providence and Los Angeles.

Shepard Fairey currently lives and works in Los Angeles, California in the United States.