Cool Hunting
by Ariston Anderson
Yesterday Obama's Presidential Inaugural Committee unveiled street artist Shepard Fairey's design commissioned for the official inaugural poster. While Obama's top volunteers across the country anxiously await their assigned tickets for the swearing-in ceremony, we expect Fairey will be receiving prime seats. Fairey, who came to fame with his Andre the Giant "Obey" posters, papered across the nation, created one of the most iconic symbols of Obama's 2008 presidential campaign with his lighter "Hope" image.
Publicity guru Yosi Sergant is credited with linking Fairey to the Obama effort. After Fairey printed an initial round of posters and posted the image on his website, it soon went viral. Posters and then limited edition prints soon skyrocketed in price, as collectors were eager to get their hands on the campaign memorabilia. A mixed media collage of the image was snatched up by the Smithsonian, making it the first official image of the president to be inducted into the National Portrait Gallery.
Posters are selling for $100 and 1,000 prints, signed and numbered by the artist, go for $500. All proceeds will be put toward much needed Inaugural funding, as the planned events could cost the city up to $50 million with nearly three million people expected to descend on Washington 20 January 2009.If you won't be around for the festivities, you can pick up your print at the Inaugural website.
Also worth adding to your collection is "Supply & Demand,", a retrospective spanning 17 years of Fairey's career. It's available from Amazon or Powell's.
|
previous entry Newton Motion AW |
next entry Asgar/Gabriel: Bucolica Obscura |
Though the name may not hold as much clout as Kennedy, Shepard Fairey has apparently made his choice for the next President of the United States. Throwing his weight and talent behind the junior senator from Illinois, the illustrator has produced two striking posters with the man's likeness and main slogans. He's offering the 24" x 36" silkscreens for $50 a pop on his...
Housed in a turn-of-the-century storefront between theaters and restaurants on Gay Street —Knoxville, Tennessee's main thoroughfare—Yee-Haw Industries has become something of an institution. Since 1996, founders Julie Belcher and Kevin Bradley have been producing striking posters and fine art prints, strictly using classic hand-pressed printing techniques. Having more than a small obsession with Americana and classic American musicians, Yee-Haw began by making folk art-inspired...
Barely into her 20s, designer/illustrator Kate Moross has a client list as long as some established design firms. You might recognize her distinctive work from Vice and Nylon magazines or U.K. bands like Klaxons and the Maccabees. She cut her teeth designing flyers for London shows three years ago with a penchant for throwback psychedelic graphics and lettering. Her more recent work favors a...
Many regard Shepard Fairey as one of the godfathers of the modern urban art scene and he's widely known as one of the hardest working men in the business. His Obey Andre the Giant figure can be found all over the world, oftentimes in some surprising locales. Unique stencil, collage, photography and painting techniques have made him possibly the worlds most well-known street artist....
Taking street art, er, beyond the street, Judith Supine took to the waters of the East River in New York recently with a guerilla floating installation. His colorful, awkward and—at times—political collage works can be found around lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, but this is the first time (that we know of) that he's created a floating piece. Did you catch his hanging banner on...
WK Interact and Obey Giant formed an alliance recently, collaborating on an exhibition called The East/West Propaganda Project, currently up in Japan at Tokyo Wonder Siteand traveling to Paris' Galerie Du Jour Agnès b next. (Sponsored by Agnès b, there's also work by the two artists up at Agnès b's Tokyo store and a clothing line and prints are available there as well.)Playing on...
