Results tagged “shepardfairey”

The Downtown Art Walk, which is centered around Gallery Row, might be all the buzz tonight, but over in the nearby Arts District, a new 24-foot tall mural at Traction and E. 3rd by Shepard Fairey has just gone up, says Ed Fuentes at blogdowntown. It's called the "Peace Goddess" and is part of LA Freewall project, which could turn the area into largest outdoor art gallery. ALSO: Fairey's art gallery, Subliminal Projects, has a new show featuring work by WK Interact. It's a solo exhibition called "How To Blow Yourself Up."

              

Earlier this morning, we showed you the video of The L.A. Wall being torn down. Now, here are photos of the art before it was destroyed in celebration of the Berlin Wall's falling 20 years ago.

The 20th Anniversary for the falling of the Berlin Wall was a big deal here in Los Angeles, a sister city of Berlin's. Thanks to the Wende Museum of the Cold War, Wilshire Boulevard last night was bisected by the 60-foot L.A. Wall, donned with images by such artists as Shepard Fairey and Thierry Noir, who began painting the Berlin Wall in 1984.

      

Earlier this month the Wende Musuem installed 8 segments of the Berlin Wall in front of LACMA on Wilshire Blvd. This marks the longest stretch of the wall currently standing outside of Berlin. On November 8th, the 20th anniversary of the wall's falling will be commemorated via an event put on by the Wall Project, and more panels will be added to fully block Wilshire Blvd. Following an evening of activities and entertainment, at midnight the wall will be toppled, marking the anniversary, which will be broadcast live on German television.

Los Angeles-based artist Shepard Fairey might be left with only his "hope" when it comes to the suit and counter-suit battles being waged in court right now regarding his iconic adaptation of a photograph of Barack Obama for use in his 2008 Presidential campaign.

People are pretty p-o'd about The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, aka ACORN, and the recent videos that have been released showing undercover conservative activists posing as a pimp and ho pair getting a bit too much help from staffers at several of the group's locations. Anti-ACORN activists expressed their dismay through graffiti left on the exterior walls of Studio No. 1 here in Los Angeles, which is the commercial design studio behind Shepard Fairey's iconic Obama HOPE posters, explains the Washington Post.

Before Barack Obama's campaign, Yosi Sergant was a local public relations guy and a constant presence in the Los Angeles arts and grassroots scenes. He represented Shepard Fairey among other organizations before he got the idea to have artists make posters for the campaign. One of those, Fairey's HOPE, became a huge hit and a driving force and symbol of the campaign. Sergant was then offered a job in the White House as the arts liaison and eventually was named the Communications Director at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Jesus Sanchez, the blogger behind The Eastsider LA, found that street artist Shepard Fairey put an anti-graffiti coating on the brick walls of his art gallery and ad agency in Echo Park. Fairey explained that "when graff seeped into the raw brick it was very difficult to clean. The building is historic and I love and want to protect the brick." The new anti-graffiti coating will make abatement easier, but will not stop graffiti.

Shepard Fairey, famous for his street art and the famous Obama poster, spoke to the LA Times about the other Obama poster that was first seen around Los Angeles last week. "I don't agree with the political content of the poster," Fairey said of the poster that has Obama's face painted like The Dark Knight's Joker with the word "socialism" below. "They don't realize that Medicaid is a socialist program." Fairey and his circle of street artist contacts say they are clueless as to the street artist's identity. Have Republicans caught on? "It could be possible that a right-winger finally got hip to the idea that street art can get people's attention and be a valuable way to express a point of view," Fairey said. An LAist commenter last week was happy to see this kind of artwork. "Clearly the president is doing something right if he is inspiring the right wingers to go out and try to scare people into thinking that he is dooming us to a socialist future," wrote airickoo.

The Echo Park based artist who made President Obama's iconic poster image pleaded guilty today to three vandalism charges in a Boston Municipal Court. Shepard Fairey was accused of 28 counts of vandalism, but prosecutors dropped 14 charges last month and 11 of them today. "He pleaded guilty to one charge of defacing property and two charges of wanton destruction of property under $250," according to the Associated Press. As part of his two-year probation, he will have to pay $2,000 to a graffiti removal organization and is banned from carrying tagging materials unless he is working on a legal art installation.

Remember back in February when local artist Shepard Fairey was arrested in Boston for allegedly sticker slapping and postering in Boston? Well, this week, 13 charges were dropped, but he still faces more from a September 16th, 2000 incident in which he did not appear for his arraignment the next day. "We're happy that those cases have been dismissed and we're looking forward to others being dismissed as well that rely on the same set of facts that these did," Fairey's lawyer said, noting "that the evidence against Fairey included commercially available stickers featuring images of his work which could have been posted by anybody," explained the Boston Globe.

              

By 7 p.m. last night, the line to get into West Hollywood's Carmichael Gallery of Contemporary Art was around the block. It was a strong showing for a exciting display of art by Banksy, Shepard Fairey and more. The show located in the back gallery, called Get Rich Quick, featured rare originals and prints. A couple artists on the bill, such as Space Invader, had pieces that didn't make it via mail yet, but the jovial crowd did not seem to mind--plenty of folks were happy to see friends and snap camera phone photos of Banksy's prints.

       

Next week Thursday, one of LA's most progressive contemporary art galleries will open two shows of note. The first, Get Rich Quick, combines the forces of household names like Banksy and Shepard Fairey with pieces from artists including Skullphone, Space Invader, David Choe, Faile, Ian Francis and KAWS.

       

Yesterday evening, cyclist Lance Armstrong rallied friends, the bike-friendly, and local leaders as they took to the streets of Hollywood as part of his Livestrong: Hope Rides Again promotion. Armstrong was joined on two wheels by local civic leaders like Councilmembers Eric Garcetti and Tom LaBonge, and later by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and artist Shepard Fairey all to raise funds and launch a global art exhibition called "Stages, which features the work of 21 artists and will help support the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Fairey's iconic work can be see emblazoned on the buildings of Hollywood; although "Hope" is a key term for Armstrong's exhibit, it's also one that Fairey has used elsewhere--maybe you've seen it? Here he's making do with "Defiance," "Courage," and "Action!"

First the Associated Press threatened to sue artist Shepard Fairey by tomorrow. Now Fairey is beating them to the punch. Today he filed suit against the news agency to vindicate him from accusations that he violated copyright laws.

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Boston police arrested LA-based artist Shepard Fairey yesterday on outstanding warrants alleging the famous Obama "Hope" poster artist "tagged property with graffiti," according to the Huffington Post. "Fairey was in Boston on Friday for his new exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art." The artist has also found himself swirled in controversy of late regarding the Associated Press' allegation that he violated copyright laws by using one of their photos as the basis for his red, white, and blue colored Obama images that were used prominently in the now-President's campaign. Per LAist sister-site Bostonist, Fairey was arrested "on his way to play a DJ set" at the museum where his exhibit is being held.

The Associated Press has claimed that the famous "Hope" portrait of President Barack Obama created by Eastsider Shepard Fairey infringes its copyright in a 2006 photo. The AP is seeking credit and compensation, according to, err, the AP.

Barack Obama was sitting next to George Clooney at a 2006 National Press Club event in Washington D.C. when freelance photographer Mannie Garcia snapped some shots of the now-president for the Associated Press. One o those images is now one of the most famous in the world. "It looks like the image that poster artist Shepard Fairey said looked presidential, telling the Washington Post: 'He is gazing off into the future, saying, 'I can guide you,' ' actually showed our new president listening to George Clooney. Or, probably more likely, fellow Senator Sam Brownback (R-Kan.)," said photographer and sleuth blogger Tom Gralish of the Philadelphia Inquirer. Gralish was obsessed with finding the photo behind the Obama poster and he finally did.

       

In honor of the inauguration, Hollywood & Highland's infamous Babylonian arch for the last two nights became a wall of projected Shepard Fairey Obama art, compliments of Firefly LA. Every thirty seconds or so, a small rotating set of images and quotes would display on both sides to the pedestrians on Hollywood and traffic on Highland. It was a quiet night in Hollywood, but that didn't stop hundreds of people to look up and drop their jaw in awe.

The Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery this week announced that they have acquired Shephard Fairey's collage portrait of Obama that was a defining image of his campaign. "This is the original collage that the prints and campaign materials were based on," museum spokeswoman Bethany Bentley said in an email to Jesus Sanchez at The Eastsider LA, a blog devoted to the city's region where Fairey's studio and gallery resides.

Echo Park artist Shepard Fairey was always widely known in Los Angeles for his ubiquitous OBEY images illegally plastered on walls in the streets and commissioned in clubs. But once his poster became the defining image of Barack Obama's bid for president, it also became Fairey's. "[It] might be the defining image of my life," he told TIME in a video interview. The magazine is on newsstands now, so if you're a proud eastsider like Jesus Sanchez over at The Eastsider LA, you'll probably want to pick this one up.

The historic election and upcoming Halloween festivities come together in the amazing Yes We Carve website. The site feature pumpkins carved with Obama images and logos. Their motto "Change Your Pumpkin, Change Your World" reminds us of the inspiration and creative spirit many people feel in the days leading up to the election.

Sister blog to LAist, DCist caught LA's very own Shepard Fairey working on his latest mural in Logan Circle yesterday: "The mural he's put up in the alley is a version of a piece called Duality of Humanity, which is included in his upcoming show with Al Farrow, Regime Change Starts at Home." Last Friday, Fairey had a new Obama art installation at fashion accessory store TenOverSix on Beverly.

Artist Shepard Fairey talks about the evolution of his artwork from tagging to the visual centerpiece of Barack Obama's Presidential campaign. Recently LAist captured the installation of a series of Fairey's posters at TenOverSix on Beverly, which will be put up for auction this week.

                    

On Beverly Boulevard at Vista, the amazing new idie concept boutique TenOverSix is bound to catch your eye. Currently the window features a new installation by Shepard Fairey. Many more collaborations with visual artists and designers are yet to come.

      

Despite Barack Obama being done with visiting Los Angeles during his campaign, activist art is popping up all around town--from today's Shepard Fairey installation at TenOverSix to a recent mural in South LA. Last weekend, a large poster banner was installed on a wall of Smog Design at 1725 Silverlake Blvd. next to Spaceland (you can see it when driving northbound on the left side).

       

If you're driving along Beverly between La Brea and Fairfax, keep an eye out for these. Artist Shepard Fairey's latest Obama art has come in the form of two very large posters (and five smaller ones not seen here) installed in the windows of TenOverSix, a fashion boutique that focuses on accessories. "They are meant as a reminder to get out there and vote for change (whatever your interpretation of that may be!) but ours is definitely that it lies within the Obama/Biden ticket," said Kristen Lee of the store. The artworks will be auctioned off at a party on Oct. 16.

                            

Last Tuesday was the Barack Obama-rama at Spaceland (MySpace) in Silver Lake. Organized by Electrocute's (MySpace) Nicole Morier, the fundraiser featured performances by the Copenhagen-based Wolfkin (MySpace) and locals The Polyamorous Affair (MySpace), the aforementioned Electrocute, Willoughby (MySpace), The Bird and the Bee (MySpace), Hard Place (MySpace), and The Lady Tigra (MySpace), as well as booths for Planned Parenthood and the Obama campaign, a voter registration drive, and a raffle that included Obama Hope campaign posters donated by Shepard Fairey.