Briefly, I went up to that there London this weekend to see ‘nineteeneightyfouria’, Shepard Fairey’s wee show at Stolenspace. Twas good. And well worth the 3 hour diverted train journey and trogging around in the cold and wet to go see. Been an admirer for ages now and while I saw a couple of pieces of his in L.A. over summer, it was cool to see the work up close..
The website says:
The exhibition entitled ‘Nineteeneightyfouria’, a reference to the surveillance culture of Orwell’s 1984. (Shepard believes London’s CCTV coverage to be ‘Insane’) is comprised of a range of artworks, from large scale multi media installations to smaller album screen prints Shepard’s artwork both scrutinises and distorts the narrative of the modern American Dream. Commenting on underpinnings of what Shepard terms the ‘capitalist machine’, it aims to critique those who support blind nationalism and war. Fairey addresses monolithic institutional authority, the role of counter culture, and independent individuals who question the cultural paradigm.
I says:
Good stuff.
More ‘nineteeneightyfouria’ pictures at flickr.
I bought a Fairey book when I was in NY, all it consisted of was loads of different images of Andre The Giant (the big ‘obey’ guy) stencilled and postered in various places. Pretty boring really. Found it funny how it was meant to be a statement against the invasion of branding (or something along those lines) then seeing an Obey hat in the Consortium shop… hmm.
Yeah, to be honest, the Andre The Giant/Obey Has a Posse stuff doesn’t quite do it for me and really, even the more ‘arty’ stuff has it’s flaws (as in – the originality of some of the pieces is questionable).. But I’m a sucker for things in red and black that are propaganda-esque; and he excels at putting that style together