The Boston arrest of street artist Shepard Fairey, along with the AP suit and countersuit concerning a copyrighted photograph of Obama, are part and parcel of Shepard Fairey’s art–which as a whole is a provocative–and, now, increasingly lucrative–challenge to authority. Still, it’s nice that someone is making money at a time when the world appears to be going to rack and ruin, and it’s fun to have something new to think about.
After spending Friday night in jail, today, street artist Shepard Fairey was arraigned today in Boston for allegedly pasting “Andre The Giant” graffiti near an entrance to the Massachusetts Turnpike and the Boston University bridge across the Charles River–nine years ago. Fairey also countersued the Associated Press–who sued him last week for basing his now famous Obama “Hope” poster on a copyrighted AP photograph.
Having seen the poster at Fairey’s opening at the Institute of Contemporary Art last week, I agree with him that the poster significantly transformed the photo (actually, I think, improved it and turned it into art) and, thus, does not violate copyright law. What’s more, Fairey has not sold the work–and, while he might have enhanced (and now harmed) his reputation by distributing it for free, he did not directly use it for financial gain.
The “tagging” of public places and ensuing arrests are part and parcel of Fairey’s art. He and his work present a provocative and humorous challenge to authority; the bruhaha publicizes Fairey’s image and images, delights upstarts, and, I suppose, infuriates the powers that be. It also promises to enlarge the coffers of Fairey,of the ICA (whose director, Jill Medvedow recently sent out an email of support on Fairey’s behalf) and, especially, of the lawyers.
Still, with the world going to rack and ruin, it’s nice to know that some people are making money– and fun to have a new set of old issues to focus on.
Kudos to Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art for mounting a spectacular 20-year restrospective of Shepard Fairey’s work–which runs through August 16, 2009.
Shepard Fairey and poster
Kudos to Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art for mounting a spectacular 20-year restrospective of Shepard Fairey’s work–which opened for members on Feb. 4, 2009.
Entitled “Supply and Demand,” the show, which runs through August 16, 2009, includes some 200 stickers, posters, portraits, and murals, including the now iconic Barack Obama “Hope” poster which has found its way all over the world.
The show traces Fairy’s work to the 1980s when, as a teenager in Charleston, South Carolina, he was attracted to counter-cultures like skateboarding and punk rock–and their stickers–and began making his own.
As a student at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1988, Fairey instructed a friend in making a paper cut stencil using an image of Andre the Giant, who a popular figure in the World Wrestling Federation, am ICA handout explains. The two then paired the face with the phrase “Andre the Giant has a posse,” and over the next six years, produced more than a million hand-printed and cut stickers, which Fairey sent to friends who posted them all over the US.
(On a huge campaign billboard, he also used one to cover the face of then-Providence mayor Buddy Cianci, who says sheepishly in an accompanying video that this disturbed him because it was defacing property. It’s all the funnier in hindsight, knowing that Cianci was later jailed on corruption charges).
Toward the end of the 1990s, Fairey started to challenge what the ICA calls the “corporate advertising machine…He asks us to consider whether the so-called ‘public space’ is really public.
“Most advertising takes an ‘in your face’ approach to sell or influence consumers. Fairey’s Obey giant campaign–which features the word “obey” and other slogans [on a variety of images ]sells nothing but its mysterious imagery, ambiguity and underground appeal has made passers-by worldwide question the visual noise that crowds our streets”–as well as the insidious advertising messages used to command us.
One large room features portraits–some of which incorporate the “obey” command. One print portrays George W. Bush as a vampire, with blood running out of his mouth. Other portraits feature musicians, guerilla leaders, gang members, Muslim women, and additional political leaders.
A highlight is Fairey’s iconic “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama, which “has spread like a virus on TV, in print and online, on t-shirts and buttons, and guerilla-style on streets all over the globe.”
The poster seems particularly poignant with Obama, now in his third week as President, facing not only a terrible economic situation and two wars, but also the disintegration of a seemingly promising leadership team whose members betrayed him and us for personal greed.
The exhibit, co-curated by guest curator Pedro Alonzo and Emily Moore Bouillet, former assistant curator at the ICA, and sponsored by Levi-Strauss culminates with a set of four stunning, intricately designed, murals.
Commissioned by the ICA, the murals, along with the other components and the exhibit as a whole are inspirational.
Not only do they each convey provocative messages about individuals’ relationship to power and commerce, but they embody and communicate an individual’s ability to follow his creative instincts and passion to achieve artistic and, ironically, commercial success.
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Having arrived on time for the opening, I didn’t have to wait in line–but in a lovely wine reception on the second floor, was told that people who got there early had to stand outside in the cold until the official opening time. in leaving, at around 8 PM, I had to cut around long, winding lines of people in the lobby who were waiting to sign in.
My only beef was the lack of beef…the wine was fine, but my companion, Mark H. and I would have appreciated a few chips to go along with it. Next time, I’ll definitely arrive on time–and eat before I go.
In a talk at Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, New York Times Business Columnist Joe Nocera offered background and commentary on the current financial crisis. In answer to the question posed by the talk’s title: The Economy: Where are we Headed,” he resoundingly proclaimed, “I don’t know.”
Over a brown-bag lunch at Harvard’s Joan Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy, New York Times Business Columnist Joe Nocera opened his talk on the daunting question, “The Economy: Where Are We Headed?” with a resounding: “I don’t know.”
He offered background on the current (and future, he predicts) financial crisis, focusing first on the housing foreclosure crisis, and then on the banking industry.
Regarding housing, he suggested that– unfair as it may seem to people who didn’t buy into risky mortgages they couldn’t afford–we as an nation should bite the bullet and find ways to help those who did hold onto their homes. One suggestion: rather than kick people out of foreclosed homes, banks could rent them to the forfeiters with an option to buy them back in five years with a 10 per cent down payment.
Regarding banking, Nocera said he sees no reason why “shareholder value” should remain the cornerstone of banking industry strategy. He feels little sympathy for those who bet that they’d win big profits–up to 25 per cent–but lost, he said.
In Nocera’s view, Washington currently seems paralyzed by indecision over how to proceed.
One option is the “bad bank,” in which the government buys all of the bad assets but that option has stalled because no one knows what the assets are worth.
Another is an “RTC” strategy like that used during the Savings and Loan Crisis of the 1980s, in which the government formed the Resolution Trust Corporation to take over banks. The RTC allowed some to fold, and sold others, without the assets to new owners. The RTC then gradually sold aoff the assets, with riders assuring that if the new owners made money, the government would receive a portion of the profits. The process took ten years, Nocera said, but it worked.
While President Obama is confident about his ability to make decisions on many topics, the economy isn’t one of them, Nocera said. Obama chose Bush holdover Tim Geitner as Treasury Secretary over former Harvard President Larry Summers mainly for personality reasons, but, Nocera predicted, Geitner is not likely to be able to move away from the thinking of the previous administration in order to come up with much needed new options.
Nocera commented wryly that his blog, the Executive Suite, has served as a clearning house for ideas on how to solve both the economic crisis–none of which appear to have been taken up by either administration.
“Treasures of Time” in Salem is a beautiful store featuring gems and geology: hand chosen, hand made decorative, home and office decor, and jewelry items made by international artists and artisans from mineral materials all over the world.
Yesterday was sparkling cold and sunny so Sheila and I decided to drive up to Salem to visit Treasures Over Time, one of the loveliest shops I’ve ever been in–and for someone whose favorite sport is shopping, that’s saying a lot.
Founded by proprietors Nestor and Sivan Sergott, the shop, recently relocated to 139 Washington Street, features gems and geology: hand chosen, hand made decorative, home and office and jewelry items made by international artists and artisans from mineral materials all over the world.
Some of my favorite pieces are made of serpentine–rock sculpted into useful objects, then fired at high temperatures, which brings out their colors.
We also loved the jewelry–and the
Pendant
fantastic collection of fossils, and rough mineral specimens, all beautifully displayed in the two-room store.
Full disclosure, Sivan’s grandmother and mine were sisters; one reason for the trip was to discuss a show of photographs of rock formations I took on the South Coast of Australia–which, we agreed will happen sometime this Spring.
Watching the Obama inauguration ceremonies on TV, I felt disappointed by poet Elizabeth Alexander’s “Praise Song for the Day”…but agree with Martha Swartz of Philadelphia, who points out in her email newsletter that that the poem works better read than heard. It’s included below.
If you’d like me to link to your photos, commentary or anything else regarding the inauguration…or actually…anything else at all…please leave a comment to let me know!
Anita
Here’s the poem:
PRAISE SONG FOR THE DAY
by Elizabeth Alexander
Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others’ eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair. Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice. A woman and her son wait for the bus. A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, “Take out your pencils. Begin.” We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider. We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, “I need to see what’s on the other side; I know there’s something better down the road.” We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see. Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of. Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables. Some live by “Love thy neighbor as thy self.” Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need. What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance. In today’s sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun. On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp — praise song for walking forward in that light.
Scientia Advisors is offering five free Webinars for anyone interested in trends in the health care and life science industries.
Thought you might like to know that my client, Scientia Advisors, is offering five free Webinars aimed at helping major corporations, emerging companies and innovative startups choose strategic directions.
The Webinars, in February, 2009, will present Scientia’s latest industry reviews. The reviews are based on interviews with scientists, clinicians, manufacturers, and product developers as well as on traditional market research.
The Webinars will initially be presented live, with opportunities for interactive participation. Less-detailed Webcasts will subsequently be available for download from the Scientia Advisors Web site.
Here’s the schedule; click on any of the titles for more information or to register.
Anita
Scientia Advisors, based in Cambridge, MA and Palo Alto, CA, is an international management consulting firm specializing in growth and operational strategies for major and emerging companies in health care, life science and biotechnology.
