The semi-regular “Come on Shepard, seriously?” post

Posted: August 15th, 2010 | Author: RJ | Category: Art News | Tags: shepard fairey | 12 Comments »

Most days, I’m a fan of Shepard Fairey. He’s been getting up longer and harder than almost anybody else in street art, he’s a talented artist and few others have done more for the street art scene. But nobody’s perfect, and the bigger the star, the more bigger those imperfections. Every once in a while, I do a post like this about the latest crazy things Shepard has said or done.

Joaquin Phoenix

1. There are the posters depicting Joaquin Phoenix which have been popping up in a few major US cities. Forget about this being illegally place guerrilla advertising for some film, they’re pretty unappealing to look at. Even if they were straight up street art, they’d be pretty unremarkable, unless you were remarking on their poor design. Well, according to New York Magazine, these posters were designed by Shepard Fairey and they are presumably being placed by his street team. The poor design of this image is EXACTLY WHY people criticize 1-layer stencils and Shepard’s poster style as nothing more than failed art students putting a photo through Photoshop. And that’s not what all 1-layer stencils or Shepard Fairey images are. Some of them are brilliant (I think). Then again, the rumor about this Joaquin Phoenix documentary is that the last two or so years of Joanquin’s life have been some elaborate performance piece about a man gaining fame through a career path that he has no business being on. Kind of like the ending that everyone was hoping for with Mr. Brainwash in Exit Through The Gift Shop, except that Joaquin is trying to be a rapper. So if the rumors are true, maybe this sub-par poster is just another component of the hoax.

2. Last week, a mural Shepard recently put up in San Diego was partially tagged over by a fire-extinguisher-wielding writer going by the name of Polo Joe. It was a nice mural. It’s a shame to see it written on so swiftly. I’m sure plenty of people will disagree with me on that point, but I liked the mural. Unfortunately, pieces getting covered, written over, removed or even just decaying is part of street art and graffiti. Every artist that I know accepts this as part of the culture. Typically, street artists are more open to this than graffiti writers. And yet, I’m not that shocked by Shepard Fairey releasing a statement about this wall getting written over. After all, a lot of people who enjoy that mural might have expected it to last longer. What did surprise me a bit was what Shepard said in his statement: “The endeavor fulfills some need for the heckler but has no redeeming value to any of the other participants, but I firmly believe in street art as a democratic forum. In street art, tenacity always wins and I’m not going away.” That just sounds a bit supercilious to me. Polo Joe is not merely a “heckler” who should be completely ignored. He was making a statement with his tag. I wouldn’t expect Shepard to agree with Polo Joe, but since Shepard has been involved in street art for longer than I have been alive, I figured he wouldn’t just brush aside such an important part of graffiti and street art culture so simply. Like Team Robbo writing over Banksy, Polo Joe might be annoying and ruining a piece of art history and I might wish he didn’t do it, but he has as much right to tag over a Shepard Fairey mural as Shepard has to put up a poster without permission. I think it’s unfortunate that Shepard agree (or if he does, won’t admit that he does).

Via Animal NY

Photo by EL AYE ONE

http://twitter.com/russzoran Russ Zoran

1. The posters depicting Joaquin Phoenix look nothing like Shepard Fairey’s work. Who “confirmed” that he’s the artist behind this image? If you read the original article its vague to say the least. Have you checked the sources or taken that original article as gospel? The image does not carry any hallmarks of Shepard Fairey’s work, not even a hint of Obey iconography which he carries over into his commercial work. I’m guessing that its just a poor marketing ploy to wheat pasted up posters then fake “confirm” its Shepard Fairey just to jump on the street art band wagon using Shepards name… Much like when people spray up fake Banksy stencils…
http://www.vandalog.com RJ

NY Magazine doesn’t name their source, but they are a pretty reputable magazine. So yeah, I’ve just trusted a reputable source. They could be wrong of course, so I’ve just sent a message to OBEY asking to confirm the story. I’ll let you know if I hear anything back.

You’re right, it doesn’t look too much like Shepard’s style, but not all of his design work immediately looks like it was designed by him. Two of his design company’s most famous designs would be their work for Saks 5th Avenue and the cover of the Black Eyed Peas’ album Monkey Business. In both of those designs, you can see the Shepard’s style carrying over from OBEY into these new jobs, but it probably isn’t immediately apparent if you don’t already know that was Shepard involved.

With these posters, it may have been intentional that the design didn’t look too much like part of the OBEY Giant campaign, since they would be appearing outdoors. Or perhaps Shepard didn’t do the design, just had his people do the postering.

There are few individuals or companies who would have the resources available at a moment’s notice to put up all of these posters around the country. Without Shepard, Joaquin would probably have to organized with a number of different flyposting companies, instead of just Shepard’s street team. And Shepard’s team would be willing to put up the posters in spots like you see above where there is no other flyposting. Most other large flyposting companies stick to spots like construction hoardings or other “designated” (but still illegal) areas.
http://organizedconfusion.podbean.com/ THE SOUND IN YOUR HEAD

so lets assume studio one did the image for the upcoming phoenix mocumentary . there is no icon or mention of obey , so this work however you want to judge should stand on its own . could anyone with photoshop and kinkos do this yes , but that might exactly what the movie people wanted . Anyone remember then andy kaAUFFman posters . for the guerrilla man on the moon campaign years ago. i realize its your blog but to editorialize about where shepards head is or where his designs are , i call a REALLY , . Let the man eat if he wants to take a job and it is all right with him ethically to take the money then its on him , where was the outcry a few months back when banksy did the koons muzzled dog piece on labrea that was complete setup . he did the piece on a abandoned car lot (owned by a gallery owner suprise ) why when there are 10000′s of walls . I assume it was the obama piece that makes the hip thing to do is for bloggers or whoever to hate on shepard , But like u said he has been putting in work since before alot readers were born . So will the like of polo joe be giving money to charities , i doubt it , will polo joe employ other artist and get them own there own path (cobrasnake lumbag etc) i doubt it . Did polo joe have a right of course its public space and he put his neck on line , but he had his one day of fame as anyone could ,go trash any established artist street piece in any city , but reality is last week you didnt know polo joe and you wont r ember him in a week .
http://www.vandalog.com RJ

Okay so yes, let’s assume that the studio intended for the image to look like something anybody could make at Kinkos. Definitely possible. Then it’s the most clear-cut example to date of Shepard turning from a street artist to a guerrilla marketer illegally posting ads instead of art. It could be argued that these ads make you think about who Joaquin is and why he is famous, like the original Andre and OBEY stickers, but their purpose is to make you think your way right to theaters to buy a ticket. If he’s happy to take money for these sort of jobs, good for him, but he should be expecting criticism.

Funny you should mention that Banksy piece in LA. I questioned the placement of that piece on this blog (http://blog.vandalog.com/2010/04/important-banksy-removal-update/), though admittedly I wasn’t as outspoken about the issue as I could have been. As much as I hope the placement of that piece was a coincidence, I doubt it was. Pictures On Walls, Banksy’s screenprinting studio, did a show last December with The Date Farmers. In September, The Date Farmers have a show at The Ace Gallery, whose owner owned the building Banksy painted on. That’s the art world for you I guess.
http://twitter.com/deksta deksta

nice article RJ
http://organizedconfusion.podbean.com/ THE SOUND IN YOUR HEAD

that koons piece was no coincidence . the phoenix thing actually looks more like mbw than anything . for debate sake say it is a job for studio one because we can agree from photo its not obey marked . thats just a design job to speculate that shepard or his street team had hand in pasting them is just speculating .most likely a craigslist hire see this http://www.thedirtfloor.com/2010/08/02/new-los-angeles-street-artist-joaquin-phoenix/
but whatever the case unless your against capitalism you cant & shouldnt knock the hustle
i just felt compelled because ive noticed on the street and on blogs people are taken little shots either going over his work or sniping him in print. Call me old school by i was raised to respect my elders . But i guess it gets there tag/post out by going and getting over on shepard
http://www.vandalog.com RJ

I’m not generally against capitalism. I am generally against billboards and illegally flyposted advertisements though.

I would guess that 80% or so of what I write and say about Shepard is positive, because he is somebody who makes great street art and great art and he’s been doing it forever. But I don’t think he should go unquestioned, just like what Banksy does shouldn’t go unquestioned.

As for Polo Joe, yeah I guess it would be nice if Shepard’s work didn’t get written over. I just found it a bit too much that Shepard had to release a statement about the incident. And his statement was either very anti-graffiti or showed a lack of understanding of graffiti culture (and I’m pretty sure that after more than two decades doing street art, Shep understands graffiti culture). Ask almost any active street artist and they will tell you that getting written over or having the work stolen off the wall or whatever is just a part of putting something on the street.
http://organizedconfusion.podbean.com/ THE SOUND IN YOUR HEAD

i hear ya nothing should ever go questioned , but its all speculation. i dont trust most media sources to get story right (ie all the war stories ,so i doubt they are doing homework on an online entertainment/art piece . But upon further inspection it could be a mike giant , i say that because there is a bluebird or whatever that classic tattoo is in joqains hair . In regards to shepard speaking out on the san deigo piece , i feel what youre saying but 20 yras in the streets he knows the game , maybe he just felt compelled since it was part of a show .i think all those street pieces deserve respect while the show is running but thats just the way i feel . Any way other than the fact the post felt a bit Perezy the way the story was layed out , i love the blog and stop by for morning coffee or late nite burndown
http://Website BANDIT

shit is wack, shepard is wack. theres nothing guerilla or underground or political or artistic about any of this shit. bunch of hollywood millionaires acting like theyre rebellious.
http://Website Utaw

Joaquin is a Shepard Fairey image.

Maybe its being out in Hollywood or just being a millionaire with connections, but source is beyond reliable.
http://www.gaiastreetart.com/ Gaia

THIS IS NOT SPECULATION i personally know people who have ben given hundreds of these posters by Shephard’s primary street crew to put up. Names won’t be named but this is without a doubt a support Shephard street campaign. Judge it however you want just know where its all coming from.
Will

The problems with ‘street artists’ doing campaigns like this, in my opinion, are:

a.) The work takes up graff space with advertising when advertising has enough space already
b.) Yet more advertising forced on the public
c.) If you get busted you’re paid anyway, you can buy your way out more easily
d.) Being paid to voice someone elses opinion, often someone too gutless to get up
e.) If you’re paying someone else to break the law because you think you can’t you’re gutless!
f.) If you’re paying someone else to break the law you’re abusing your status or someone elses need for a wage
g.) It’s not defencesible as personal expression

That’s enough isn’t it?!

The semi-regular “Come on Shepard, seriously?” post

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