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