Shepard Fairey - interview

It’s the best of times and the worst of times for Shepard Fairey, who shot from countercultural notoriety to international fame thanks to that Obama HOPE poster and continues that roll with a major involvement in the film Exit Through the Gift Shop.

But 2010 has not been an entirely happy Fairey tale so far. First, he was sued by the Associated Press for using its image of Obama without permission. Then, a grand jury convened to look into whether Fairey was criminally liable for withholding information during the course of the suit. Shortly thereafter, he was arrested in Boston for creating an illegal mural. 

Time Out reached Fairey in LA to discuss the highs and lows of being one of the two celebrity street-artists in the world – but the only one with a face to put to the name.

So what happened when you were arrested? When I was in Boston, I did a lot of legal walls, but I also did some that were not as legal. I wasn’t caught in the act of any of it, but one Boston detective decided that a street artist having an art show in a museum, and being put up on a pedestal – that kind of activity being validated would lead to every single house being spray-painted.

Are you having to watch your step now? I’m on probation, but yes, with my work, I am rebellious; just because the law doesn’t permit something doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. However, my work isn’t just about transgression. The act of putting up a poster is an act of defiance, but for a lot of street artists, that’s the only politics of it. I’m commenting on the two-party system, or what’s going on with global warming. So I’m just trying to put my work in front of people and not go to jail.

Does that apply to using copyrighted material without permission, as with the AP law suit? Artists making art from photographic references has been a common practice since the invention of the photograph. So not only is it legitimate from an art-world perspective, it’s crucial for free speech and expression. I made a piece of art that’s an illustration; it looks nothing like the original. And I did nothing wrong to hurt the market for the original. In fact, the AP’s image was licensed far more after my poster was made.

So you were doing them a favour? You could argue that.

What’s happening with this grand-jury investigation? In the original filing, I was wrong about which photograph I’d taken the crop from. But then I thought, If I admit I was wrong, then AP was just going to say I was lying. I had an ethical obligation to say I was wrong when I knew it, but I was so freaked out by the arrest in Boston that first I tried to cover it up before coming forward. It’s been the biggest mistake of my life.

Do you feel targeted because people know who you are, unlike Banksy, who’s anonymous? I think that being open about who I am and being vocal about defending the kind of things most people are scared to defend has made me somewhat of a target. It’s been difficult for my family, and I feel bad for them. I’ve felt bad for myself at moments, but I didn’t choose to do all the things I do because they’re easy.

So Banksy is getting away with murder? I love Banksy; he’s a friend. But he stays anonymous for two reasons: One, he doesn’t want to deal with the hassles of not being anonymous. And two, it’s a kind of marketing. Because people fantasise about what he’s like, and their fantasies are always going to be superior to the disappointment of reality.

But it also means your success attracts all the haters, especially other street artists, or street-art aficionados. Whatever. It’s lost me some fans. A lot of people say, “You’re not keeping it real.…” It comes down to elitism on their part; they’re like, "I’m in the anticlub club." But I’m not in denial of things having to evolve, and it would be silly of me not to take advantage of the opportunities that have come my way.

You've been to both Sydney and Melbourne - what do you think of them as places?
I liked both Melbourne and Sydney. Of the two, I think I preferred the grittiness of Melbourne. Melbourne had more great street art and bohemian culture from what I could see. Good inexpensive food and booze too. I also had a good street art guide and partner in Melbourne... Perks. He used to live with me in San Diego and now does the clothing line PAM. Sydney is nice, but maybe a little bit too clean. I also went to Sydney for a huge street art event and found that no one was interested in actually doing street art. I had to walk around on my own to put art up because nobody with a car in Sydney was interested in doing street art when there was the option to get drunk. I found the complacency level on par with San Diego, but it may just have been an anomaly. People were very friendly in both cities.
 
What do you recall of their urban art and which was better?
The Burn Crew in Melbourne was doing great stencils, and I saw a lot of other good stencils in Melbourne. I didn’t see as much in Sydney, but I was only there for three days.
 
The NSW government have just launched a renewed campaign to rid the streets of graffiti called Keep Australia Beautiful. Do you agree with them or do you think graffiti should now be decriminalised or even legalised?
I think there’s always an issue with anti-graffiti “beautification” initiatives, which is that the people who carry them out often don’t distinguish between the stuff that makes communities uglier and the stuff that makes them more beautiful. Plus, they usually paint over graffiti with splotches of white, brown or beige paint that in themselves detract from urban beauty. Aside from aesthetic issues, the street can also be an important medium for public dialogue, as it has been for me. If graffiti and street art get wiped out it means people’s voices get wiped out with it, and most of those people don’t have the means to buy their way into the public eye-space through billboards and such.

However, I don’t think graffiti should be legal. It shouldn’t be punished as harshly as it is, but if you accept the concept of private property then graff can't be flat-out legalised. Instead, I think there should be places where it should be tolerated. The zero-tolerance idea that any graffiti at all leads to graffiti everywhere is moronic and paranoid. I think street art should require persistence and be impermanent for the most part. Most monuments are boring, but I would like to see the Keith Haring mural in Melbourne restored. Howard Halle

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