Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey è uno degli artisti di Urban Art più conosciuti a livello globale. Diventato noto a partire dalla celeberrima campagna di sticker, diffusa in modo virale, con il volto del campione di wrestling “OBEY The Giant”.
L'artista ha raggiunto successivamente l’apice della sua fama grazie al suo noto ritratto di Obama rappresentato dall’artista nel poster "Hope" del 2008 in occasione della campagna presidenziale.
Fairey presenta le icone che hanno caratterizzato il suo lavoro fino ad oggi, che attraverso contatti, suggestioni ed interferenze dialogano con le opere della collezione della Galleria d’Arte Moderna di Roma, in una serie di rimandi tematici, iconografici e politici.
In contemporanea alla mostra un’installazione di Sten Lex. Rinascita, ideatori della tecnica dello stencil poster, con un'opera che pone l'accento su una rinascita estetica a Roma.

The volume is dedicated to Shepard Fairey (Charleston, South Carolina, 1970), one of the most renowned street artists worldwide.
Having made a name for himself with the pseudonym OBEY thanks to a viral sticker campaign featuring the face of the wrestling champion Andre The Giant, the American artist has achieved international fame thanks to his portrait of Obama, immortalized in the iconic ‘Hope’ poster, created on the occasion of his presidential campaign in 2008. In these pages the artist presents thirty new graphic works (2019), which retrace thirty years of activity through his most famous icons: many social and political themes that inspired his production, from the struggle for peace and against racial violence, the defense of human and gender dignity up to environment protection.
The graphic works here presented constitute a unique and unrepeatable concept, designed specifically for the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome, where they are placed in evocative dialogue with important works from the contemporary art collection of the Capitoline Superintendence, selected by the artist himself.

Rome, Gallery of Modern Art, September - November 2020

Contents

On Dissent
Maria Vittoria Marini Clarelli

Do Not Obey
Giuseppe Pizzuto, Giuseppe Ottavianelli

The Personal and Exclusive "Art Linkage" of Shepard Fairey
Claudio Crescentini

Art is a Hammer
Federica Pirani

Shepard Fairey’s Iconography of the Marginal and Works from the Galleria d'Arte Moderna: Affinities and References in the Practices of the Imagination
Arianna Angelelli, Daniela Vasta

Biographical table

The exhibition

Works

Selected bibliography and sitography

Exhibition checklist