This Is An Artist

The previous post was originally going to be more of a "tour diary" in which I said something like this:

"Greetings from Pittsburgh. We’ve just had our busiest week of the tour and I'm sorry it's caused a delay in the posts. But I just had a day off and I'm inspired to write. Why? Because I visited the Andy Warhol Museum, where I not only saw some great Warhol paintings but also a terrific, comprehensive exhibit of this great artist Shepard Fairey, blah blah blah..."

Instead, I chose to approach it more in the spirit of this artist himself, by putting one of his controversial pieces out there with no introduction or explanation. I was a bit surprised that most responses were negative towards it. Then again, I have to remember that when I saw the piece in person, it was a small part of the giant collage seen here:

There were 90 paintings, all of which had a collective unity and cohesion that combined to create much more color and energy than any individual poster, becoming one very broad work of art. And this wall was very tiny in comparison to the vast amount of accompanying works, which included entire murals and took over several floors of the museum.

Seeing any piece of art up close and personal is very different from looking at a copy on-line or in print and necessary to fully appreciate the work. There were many years where I never understood what was so important about Andy Warhol's "Soup Cans." I remember thinking He copied cans of Campbell's Soup. What's the big fucking deal? But when I saw the actual exhibit of the soup cans, permanently on display at the Museum Of Modern Art in New York, I was blown away. The detail, color and intricacy was mesmerizing. It belied the plainness of the subject and brought eternal beauty to a common grocery item. It became an experience, especially when placed in the proper context with Warhol's other work. I believe if you see Shepard Fairey's piece 'This Is A Poster' in person, the way I did in Pittsburgh, you will have a much deeper experience with it, regardless of your initial reaction seeing it here.

The exhibit, dubbed "Shepard Fairey: Supply And Demand" is organized by the Institute Of Contemporary Art in Boston. It has just recently moved to Pittsburgh's Andy Warhol museum. This is fitting since Fairey is a disciple of the pop artist and the closest thing we have to a modern day Warhol. Next year, the exhibit travels to Los Angeles and New York. I highly recommend it and believe even the naysayers will 'get it' once they experience Fairey's work in this context. In the meantime, you can explore more of his art HERE and at Fairey's official website

I was immediately struck by this brilliant visual artist, even though I didn't know his name. There was a strong familiarity with his work. “I know this guy” I thought. But how?

The truth his, Shepard Fairey's work is everywhere. Just the other week, I bought a copy of George Orwell's "Animal Farm," a book I've been meaning to read for years. I was drawn to it at this time because of its striking artwork, something Fairey has also applied to Orwell's quintessential work, "1984," the themes of which I had in mind when writing lyrics for the 1988 Testament album, "The New Order (Megaforce/Atlantic)."
I've seen some great music posters, featuring such artists as Paul McCartney, and Led Zeppelin. His art has even been right here on this blog since Nov. 08, an image that is now his most famous piece. All of the originals are on display in "Supply And Demand."

Fairey's work has also been in many places it’s not supposed to be. Remember all those 'Andre The Giant Has A Posse' stickers? I’d seen those for years, in the San Fancisco Bay Area and other places. What was the sticker promoting? A band? A cult? A comic book? The truth is, those stickers have no meaning at all, other than to serve a purpose, which is the search for meaning. It is an experiment in the relatively recent science of phenomenology, which is described by Answers.com as "A philosophy or method of inquiry based on the premise that reality consists of objects and events as they are perceived or understood in human consciousness and not of anything independent of human consciousness."

The face of Andre is the same face in 'This is a poster' and the slogan, 'Obey,' which in my opinion, serves the purpose of making us aware of how much we tend to behave like sheep, blindly following our peers, corporations and governments, the media and trends. "This is a poster" is not telling you to obey, but rather telling you to take note and be aware and question whether you are doing so.

Shepard Fairey uses his work to draw attention to important social issues. His images encourage us to question what we are told, question our system and realize that we live in a society not unlike those portrayed in books like '1984' or movies such as ‘The Matrix,’ fictional worlds where life is artificial and commercially driven and most citizens unaware that they are being controlled and manipulated by subliminal forces. Fairey's art points out how this has become true in our modern day and age. Facing the truth is scary to many people, so it is not surprising his work has been subject to severe criticism.

I feel what is being said in 'This Is A Poster,' is very deep. It is a message bout human nature, group mentality, psychology and how advertisers and the media take advantage of it. It makes you aware of it by using the same method it is critiquing. Is it being advertiser or is it being the consumer advocate? Is it both? Like the sticker campaign it begs the question “What is this?”

Whether you like the text in "This Is A Poster" or not, it shakes things up, stirs them around and causes a reaction. That's a good thing and is great art. I did keep reading and I do want to buy the poster, although I'm having trouble finding one for sale (Fairey's prints come in limited quantity). It is not art imitating life, but art becoming life.

Shepard Fairey is creating a whole other level of art that reaches beyond the pages of a book and the walls of a museum to become something else entirely. What that is, we’re not sure, and the very search for answers becomes part of the art itself.