Shepard Fairey at the ICA
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Sue Charles
Apr 22, 2009, 9:00:05 PM4/22/09
to North River Arts Society
The Shepard Fairey show at the ICA is worth the trip. Very beautifully
designed, humorous and thought provoking work by an artist who still
believes in the transformative and enpowering energy of push-back
ideas in the midst of complacency.
He says it best himself:
"I don't think the artist has a job to comment on politics but my
favorite art has something provocative about it and communication that
has a point of view. I think it's important for art to have a point of
view. Every artist has a different agenda. For me, I like to make
things that look nice but I also like to get across my point of view
on other topics. All I'm achieving with my art is the satisfaction of
various aspects of my personality that need to be satisfied for me to
be happy. With street art, there is this "medium is the message"
principal, that it's an act of defiance and rebellious in nature and
that politicizes it. But that doesn't mean a street artist should just
assume that whatever they're doing is groundbreaking and political
because it's on the street. I think there's a lot of people doing
street art that is pretty meaningless and just about fame. And I've
been accused of that, "Oh he's just a good self-promoter" and that's
always an aspect of street art. My favorite artist is Banksy, and you
can see a similarity in our approaches. I like work that looks nice
but has a point of view and a sense of humor.
I think what makes something art is that there's something that makes
it enjoyable to look at regardless of the political content of it. I
don't believe in the political content of the posters done under Mao
or the early Soviet constructivists stuff but it's still really great
to look at. It's got to be engaging aesthetically and if it has a
point of view, that's even better. Some in the art world have said
that artists should be first-rate artists not second-rate social
commentators. And I don't think the two should be mutually
exclusive."
- Shepard Fairey in an interview at Creativity Online
http://creativity-online.com/
designed, humorous and thought provoking work by an artist who still
believes in the transformative and enpowering energy of push-back
ideas in the midst of complacency.
He says it best himself:
"I don't think the artist has a job to comment on politics but my
favorite art has something provocative about it and communication that
has a point of view. I think it's important for art to have a point of
view. Every artist has a different agenda. For me, I like to make
things that look nice but I also like to get across my point of view
on other topics. All I'm achieving with my art is the satisfaction of
various aspects of my personality that need to be satisfied for me to
be happy. With street art, there is this "medium is the message"
principal, that it's an act of defiance and rebellious in nature and
that politicizes it. But that doesn't mean a street artist should just
assume that whatever they're doing is groundbreaking and political
because it's on the street. I think there's a lot of people doing
street art that is pretty meaningless and just about fame. And I've
been accused of that, "Oh he's just a good self-promoter" and that's
always an aspect of street art. My favorite artist is Banksy, and you
can see a similarity in our approaches. I like work that looks nice
but has a point of view and a sense of humor.
I think what makes something art is that there's something that makes
it enjoyable to look at regardless of the political content of it. I
don't believe in the political content of the posters done under Mao
or the early Soviet constructivists stuff but it's still really great
to look at. It's got to be engaging aesthetically and if it has a
point of view, that's even better. Some in the art world have said
that artists should be first-rate artists not second-rate social
commentators. And I don't think the two should be mutually
exclusive."
- Shepard Fairey in an interview at Creativity Online
http://creativity-online.com/
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