COMM 206 Chapter Notes - Chapter WWB Ch 13: Shepard Fairey, Conceptual Art, Culture War
Document Summary
Inspired by street art, graffiti de(cid:272)ided to u(cid:374)de(cid:396)take (cid:862)(cid:449)o(cid:396)ld do(cid:373)i(cid:374)atio(cid:374) th(cid:396)ough sti(cid:272)ke(cid:396)s(cid:863) (cid:894)2(cid:1009)(cid:1010)(cid:895) Fai(cid:396)e(cid:455)(cid:859)s p(cid:396)i(cid:448)ate joke public: obey brand. Goal: familiarize more people w/ fine art, conceptual art, politics of graffiti: making his work democratic. Fun-ism, not formalism amusement alone was reason to do something. Stripped images of political content (e. g. castro, lenin, mao, nixon added (cid:449)o(cid:396)ds like (cid:862)o(cid:271)e(cid:455)(cid:863) o(cid:396) (cid:862)gia(cid:374)t(cid:863)(cid:895) Many critics viewed his appropriatio(cid:374) as (cid:862)(cid:449)holesale (cid:272)op(cid:455)i(cid:374)g(cid:863) Journalist aura bogado accused him of disrespecting icons of color: fairey declared himself apolitical o(cid:374)l(cid:455) philosoph(cid:455) = (cid:862)(cid:395)uestio(cid:374) e(cid:448)e(cid:396)(cid:455)thi(cid:374)g(cid:863) Ma(cid:374)(cid:455) of fai(cid:396)e(cid:455)(cid:859)s pie(cid:272)es = (cid:448)isuall(cid:455) (cid:272)(cid:396)a(cid:373)(cid:373)ed, too explicit about what viewer should feel. Obama embodied reconciliation (erase divisions between political parties, races) Fai(cid:396)e(cid:455) (cid:272)(cid:396)eated (cid:862)hope(cid:863) poste(cid:396: colorized a black-and-white-man into red, white, and blue. Did(cid:374)(cid:859)t (cid:374)eed app(cid:396)o(cid:448)al f(cid:396)o(cid:373) a(cid:374)(cid:455)o(cid:374)e (cid:271)(cid:272) (cid:374)ot offi(cid:272)iall(cid:455) affiliated (cid:449)/(cid:272)a(cid:373)paig(cid:374: street teams and fans did most of distribution. Fairey recognized short attention span of consumer culture; needed to make something relevant.
