2019 marks the 30th Anniversary of Shepard Fairey’s OBEY Campaign
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The Mural Festival is proud to be associated with the brand for another year. 2019 marks the 30th Anniversary of Shepard Fairey’s OBEY Campaign. In 1989 Shepard set out with his experiment in phenomenology with an aim to reawaken a sense of wonder about ones environment. What started in Rhode Island in 1989, has continued to withstand the test of time and is now celebrating 30 years of dissent.
Shepard Fairey, also known as Obey, was born in 1970 in Charleston (US). Between 1989 and 1992, he studied at the Rhode Island School of Design, specializing in illustration. In the meantime, with friends of his, he started making stickers of the French wrestler André Roussimoff (a.k.a Andre the Giant), always bearing an epigraph : “Andre the Giant Has a Posse”. He pasted so many stickers and posters that he was threatened with criminal prosecution. Later, he launched his brand OBEY Giant and sold clothing, accessories, stickers, serigraphs, gaining a huge success. From 1997, he created with Dave Kinsey and Phillip DeWolff the studio BLK/MRKT Inc., specializing in marketing.
In 2003, Shepard Fairey and Dave Kinsey ended their professional activities. He kept the premises in Los Angeles, renamed the Studio Number One agency, and opened an art gallery : Subliminal Projects. In 2008 he acquired an international reputation by making the “Hope” poster for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, which appeared on the cover of Time Magazine. He kept showing his work in many galleries and designed huge frescoes. In 2011 his work was featured for a second time on the cover of Time Magazine, which is exceptional for an artist.
The Festival’s mission is to celebrate urban art by presenting live art, music, exhibitions and conferences. The festival is a major gathering of the arts community from around the world and is proud to partner with Obey as part of this exclusive collaboration that redefines the art and unusual feelings that come with watching it.
Photo credit: JF Galipeau
