Shepard Fairey

During the 2008 presidential election, Shepard Fairey created a “Russian-Propaganda looking” portrait of Barack Obama.  Underneath Obama’s red and blue tinted face is the word “hope”.  This picture of Barack Obama became a “visual emblem” of his run for the US presidency.  Even though this piece was very influential and very symbolic of this historic election, it of course came with controversy.  Fairey typically produces are that are influenced by pop culture icons; such as Black Sabbath.  However, he has done work inspired by groups such as the Black Panthers, and political figures such as George W. Bush.  While he does positive pieces, such as his poster for Barack Obama, his piece for Bush was meant to be negative just in time for his election.  In his Obama poster he tried to use colors that would make it seem as if there was no race to the picture.  In my opinion, Fairey did an exceptional job of creating something that will go down in history and be remembered by millions.