(Shepard Fairy’s Iggy Pop, 2010)

Shepard Fairy’s artwork is fascinating. The other day I found an article that shows Iggy Pop interviewing the Los Angeles based graphic designer, who some hail as being one of today’s most influential street artists.

What’s surprising though is that this man, who has for many years produced a collection of work that is both eye catching and thought provoking, continually has his integrity criticized by a divided audience. Among those unimpressed by the RISD graduates’ art are many who view the ethics behind Fairy’s work to be either too commercial to permit him any honor as an important street artist or too controversial looking to be given any praise at all.

I wasn’t quick to judge the art (or artist) however, which is mostly due to the fact that I don’t know much about the visual arts (or it’s artists). For example, until recently I actually thought that the famous “Scream” painting by Edvard Munch was another great insanity plead by Van Gogh. I had also seen copies of Shepard Fairy’s work in casual places here and there. I might have laughed when I saw his Andre the Giant idea on awkwardly placed stickers and even had used his design of ‘Chuck D” as my desktop picture for a while (I found it on Google images and didn’t really give it much thought all as “a work of art”.) To put it simply, while I still find it all to be very valuable, I usually just minimize whatever visual art I see as cool looking.

The only reason I was quick to read Shepard Fairy’s interview was because I saw below its title that Punk’s Godfather (Pop) was to conduct the arty 1v1. There was also a cool looking portrait that Fairy made of Pop, which Interview.com supplemented the writing with. As I read the article however I got to really dig what both of them had to say and opened a new tab to see some of Fairy’s other work. I found the artist’s website and was very impressed with his online gallery, which had pieces of a wide ratio of motifs that ranged from fun and funny, to both positively and darkly political.

What’s great about this article is that it doesn’t waste too much time trying to indulge the reader on what sets Shepard Fairy apart from the others. The Q and A between Pop and Fairy has information of a very “here and now” quality, which makes the piece both very interesting and impressive.

Instead of just recognizing Fairy as another “God” or “Trouble maker” within the art world, Pop goes back and forth with Fairy about the history of some of his most recent works (The Obama “Hope” poster), the threats that the usage of copyrights pose to creativity, and how themes of freedom affect people when they are exhibited to politics, business marketing, and art. Pop’s questions, which seem both conversational and informed, are just great; they get Fairy to really want to talk.

(All images below are from Shepard Fairy’s website “ObeyGiant”)

“One of the things I love about doing what I do is that I am in the mix with people. It’s not like when people walk into a gallery and say, ‘I know this piece is supposed to be good because it’s in a gallery, so I’ll just go along with the idea that it’s brilliant and wonderful.’ On the street, people aren’t bashful. They will say if they like something or if they think it sucks.”

        -Shepard Fairy

PS. If Your in New York, try and see Fairy’s “May Day” mural. The painting is located by the corner of Bowery and Housten and will stick around Manhattan until late December.

Also check out Shepard “May Day” exhibit presented by Deitch Projects. Go here to find out where/when to see the galleries.