Print and Destroy (2021) Printmaking by Shepard Fairey (Obey)

Shepard Fairey is the most appreciated contemporary American artist within street culture, he studied art and graduated from the Academy of Art in 1988. It can be said with some certainty that Obey is the most mainstream artistic phenomenon of our time.

In 1989 comes the turning point for his artistic career, the project that will give him his first fame takes shape 'Andre the Giant Has a Posse' 34;. The idea was to spread the walls of the city with stickers reproducing the face of the wrestling fighter André the Giant. The image became so famous and powerful that the stickers were replicated by other artists in other cities. The very successful objective of the campaign was to produce a media phenomenon and to make citizens reflect on their relationship with the urban environment.

The actual consecration took place during the 2008 US election campaign, which saw Barak Obama as the protagonist in the race for the 2008 presidential election of the United States of America. The Hope poster reproduced the stylized face of Barack Obama in four-color. The art critic Peter Schjeldahl defined the poster as "the most effective American political illustration since the days of Uncle Sam".

Shepard Fairey's career saw an escalation of world-famous projects, recognized by critics as powerful communicative images and mirror of the events that have most characterized our contemporaneity< /strong>. From the election of Obama, through issues related to technology and social platforms, up to the attention to the climate and the drastic changes that our planet is facing in recent decades.

Obey is a spokesperson for social messages, which very often remain unexpressed, this artist, through his recognized fame, brings difficult and very thorny issues to the foreground, trying to give a personal vision through his famous posters.