Corcoran Gallery Displays Political Art in DC

By Broadside Staff Writer Jared Trice

The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. hosted Shepard Fairey, an internationally celebrated contemporary artists and graphic designer, for a dialogue discussion on the artist’s politically-charged work on Friday, Oct. 17.
Fairey, whose portrait of Senator Barack Obama, D-Il, became one of the most iconic images of the 2008 presidential campaign, did not begin his career as a political activist. Entering the art world as a street artist, Fairey initially created a sticker, which would later become one of his most recognizable signatures, embedded with the now deceased wrestling champion, Andre the Giant.

The sticker initially read, “Andre the Giant has a Posse,” which later became “obey.” Fairey posted these stickers throughout his town and attributed his early, small-scale popularity with the confusion the stickers would incite in the viewers.

“Several years ago I heard a radio station willing to give out free tickets to a show to anyone who knew anything about the ‘Andre the Giant has a Posse’ stickers,” said Fairey. “I don’t know if anyone claimed to know anything, but I enjoyed the whole anonymity of the situation.”

On the night of the discussion, Fairey told the audience that he had already left behind his mark throughout Washington, D.C.

Fairey’s work has now gained the attention of an international audience and yet, contrary to popular belief, Fairey does not claim to be a political activist. Fairey confines his identity to that of an artist and hopes his work will incite activism in its viewers. Although Fairey’s work favors leftist-political ideals, many fans believe his work conveys an egalitarian message.

Shawn Moriarty, a junior at the Corcoran College of Art and Design, said, “People often say that Fairey’s work is unsettling because it resembles Communist-era propaganda. People who don’t share Fairey’s political views may also turn away from his work because they feel that their support may be seen as a declaration of support for ideals with which they are not affiliated. As he said, he’s just an artist producing work. I don’t believe he intends to impose his views on his audience as much as he is asking the audience to have an opinion and to question his.”

Elaborating on his Andre the Giant sticker, Fairey explains that the word “obey” tends to evoke the viewer—and it does. He explained that because we have been raised in a democratic, capitalistic society that emphasizes free will, we recoil in offense at such a command and naturally begin to question it. That is exactly what Fairey intended.
Having been arrested over 14 times, Fairey is not exactly known for his obedience. His latest arrest came when he was pasting posters in an ally near the Denver convention center. Usually amounting to no more than a misdemeanor, Fairey typically apologizes and pays a fine.

“My time is too valuable to go back to court and fight,” he said.

And that means Fairey will continue to put his work where anyone can see it. “I don’t need to do street art anymore,” he said in San Francisco. “But I enjoy it. It’s not insidery. It’s an opportunity to ire or inspire. And it’s free.”

Shepard Fairey’s work will be featured along with Al Farrow’s and Paul D. Miller’s in the politically charged exhibition, Regime Change Starts at Home, on view at Irvine Contemporary until December. 6.