Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey (American, b. 1970) is a contemporary artist whose practice is connected to Political Urban Pop. The work focuses primarily on prints & editions.

Shepard Fairey was born in 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina and attended the Idyllwild Arts Academy in Palm Springs before earning his BA in Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1992. His interest in street art was sparked by his passion for punk music and aesthetics, and skateboarding culture, often using his own designs on boards and t-shirts.

The sticker campaign Andre the Giant Has a Posse (1998) was his first signature Obey series, leading to increasing public recognition both in the fine art and mainstream cultural spheres. In 2008, he produced his most famous body of work, the Hope poster series for Barack Obama’s presidential election, rendering the president’s portrait in starkly saturated hues of white, red and blue. This has been in the permanent collection of the U.S National Portrait Gallery since 2009, and considered to be amongst the most canonical political illustrations in American history.