Shepard Fairey, Obama, and ‘Hope’
Fairey lied about using an Associated Press photo of Obama for his iconic “Hope” poster. Will Obama be drawn in?
Artwork by Shepard Fairey for Time Magazine
(HO/Reuters/Corbis)
"The jig is finally up" for Shepard Fairey says Charlotte Allen in the Los Angeles Times. The liberal artist has admitted to lying and faking evidence in his “fair use” fight with the AP, whose photo Fairey stole for his most famous work -- his Obama “Hope” poster. The truth is, the jig should have been up earlier, but the “fiercely liberal cultural and intellectual elite” stood by one of their own. Even President Obama said he was “privileged” and “proud” to be part of this street vandal’s art.
“You have to hand it to the right-wingers,” says Christopher Knight, also in the L.A. Times. They’ll use anything to "trash” President Obama, even if it makes them “look as dumb as a box of rocks.” Charlotte’s “incoherent screed” not only fails to link Obama to Fairey’s “deception,” it also uses just one tepid New Yorker review to prove lefty elites love Fairey—before then pivoting to quote another lefty artist to criticize him.
“The right’s delight,” says Mike Millard in The Boston Phoenix, is at having Obama’s “unofficial non-photographic White House photo” get tangled in a legal mess. But while “Fairey’s ill-advised skullduggery” probably won’t touch Obama, or Fairey’s “already shaky street cred,” it’s going to hurt all artists who have to step before judges, and it probably will keep Fairey’s work out of “fancy museums” for a while.
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2 Comments
Posted by Mikey, Monday, October 26, 2009, 6:34 pm So, let's get this straight. The story here is about the people writing their opinions, not about the artist or BO, right? This is a non story. BO cannot and should not be dragged into this vandal's den. OR, the story could be about the media dropping the ball, again and again. Do reporters investigate anymore, or just write unresearched opinion pieces?
Posted by Rochelle Bluestein, Tuesday, October 27, 2009, 11:10 am What ever happened to the right to interpret art as seen by the artists? Art over the centuries has been influenced and inspired by those that came before. Here is an interpretation of a photo, as in Any Warhol's famous soup cans or celebrity icons. I have no problem with it, and it has become a symbol and there is no going back. It is still art.
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