Shepard Fairey Biography

Shepard Fairey was born February 15, 1970 indocumentary on Shepard and his work. The film
Charleston, South Carolina. At age 14 Shepard Faireywhich was called "Andre the Giant has a Posse"
started getting interested in street art, putting hispremieren at the New York Underground Film Festival
drawings on skateboards and t-shirts. He decided toin 1995 and went on to play at more than 70
continue in the arts and eventually received the titlemuseums and festivals worldwide.
of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration from the RhodeIt was in 2008 that Shepard Fairey gained fame with
Island School of Design in 1992.the large public when he created, illegitimately, the
Shepard Fairey first received huge attention with hisObama Hope poster in red and blue colors. While this
"André the Giant has a Posse" stickerwas not official promotion, Shepard Fairey claims that
campaign in 1989 when he was still attending thethe Obama campaign did contact him to change the
Rhode Island School of Design. Later on he startedword PROGRESS, which was originally on the poster,
building his own brand name called the "Obey Giant"to the word HOPE. Whilst they could not officially
which today is still the title of his website.acknowledge the poster even there the campaign
His degree in illustration led Shepard to a career inofficials tries to make the most out of every
graphic design. He founded Alternate Graphics, a smallinitiative.
printing business that specialized in t-shirt and stickerSince then everything has gone steep uphill for Fairey.
silkscreens. At the same time he kept up with theHe now displays in many museums of contemporary
urban scene by being a DJ in several night clubsart and sells out his limited edition prints within
under the name DJ Diabetic. In 1994 filmmaker Helenminutes.
Stickler, a friend of Shepard Fairey, created a short