Shepard Fairey was born in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island. In 1989 he created the “Andre the Giant has a Posse” sticker that became the OBEY GIANT art campaign, with imagery that has changed the way people perceive art and the urban landscape.
After over 30 years, his works form an acclaimed body of art, including “Hope” his 2008 portrait of Barack Obama, on display at the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery. In 2017, the artist collaborated with Amplifier to create the “We The People” series, which was a shared emblem for protesters during the Women’s Marches and other rallies worldwide, in defense of national and global social justice issues.
Fairey’s stickers, guerilla street art presence, and public murals are recognized on a global scale. His works are in the permanent collections of the Boston Institute of Contemporary Art, Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and many others.
Shepard Fairey has painted more than 110 largescale murals across six continents worldwide.