Interview with Shepard Fairey, Creator of “Obey Giant”

Posted by Alex in Arts & Crafts on February 22, 2008 at 3:37 am


Shepard Fairey is the founder of the "André the Giant has a Posse" urban art.

Since he started plastering stickers and stencils all over Charleston, South Carolina, 15 years ago, it has transformed into the legendary "Obey Giant" phenomenon seen all over the United States.

Dom Saldana of our pal Crave Online website interviewed Shepard about how he got started:

"Obey I think is a provocative word. There is a movie called "They Live", which star Rowdy Rowdy Roddy Piper and other wrestlers… The concept of the movie is similar to phenomenology in that people don’t realize that they’re controlled by aliens and they use authority and advertising to get the bewildered herd of blue collar workers to submit and obey…. That movie had a pretty big effect on me even though it was a silly movie just like the original "André the Giant has a Posse" sticker was silly but there’s something that had led to [something] more significant. The use of the word obey is really too get people to question their obedience and ask if they really wanted to obey."

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COMMENT

13 comments to "Interview with Shepard Fairey, Creator of “Obey Giant”"

  1. Kat
    February 22nd, 2008 at 5:03 am

    He plastered a bunch of these all over Oahu. Most of them have been covered up, but some remain. They’re pretty creepy at night.

  2. ted
    February 22nd, 2008 at 6:09 am

    Possee?

  3. Alex
    February 22nd, 2008 at 6:13 am

    Oops - thanks for catching the typo, ted.

  4. Carl Huber
    February 22nd, 2008 at 6:55 am

    I have one of their shirts. It’s one of the few shirts with a logo that I’ve ever, ever paid for.

  5. Doctor Slack
    February 22nd, 2008 at 8:51 am

    I’m not sure he know what “phenomenology” means, but what a great stencil artist.

  6. grom
    February 22nd, 2008 at 9:00 am

    Rowdy Rowdy Piper?
    You mean Roddy Piper (aka Rowdy Roddy)
    and
    Andrew the Giant?
    You mean André the Giant.
    Little bit of editorial checking would be good

  7. Shepard Fairey's Professor
    February 22nd, 2008 at 10:16 am

    Shepard Fairey Did NOT start the Andre stickers in Charleston.

    He started them while he was attending Rhode Island School of Design in Providence RI.

    The first Andre images were made on one of our xerox machines and one of the first targets of Shepard Fairey was the Campaign posters of then mayor Buddy Cianci. Fairey altered the billboards to make it look like a Andre the Giant was running for office.

  8. DUDE!
    February 22nd, 2008 at 10:21 am

    I’m sorry but as an artist i think this guy is a tool. Granted he his a self promoting tour de force, which i guess all art has become in the present day. Anyway here’s another article about where he gets his ideas from.

    http://www.art-for-a-change.com/Obey/index.htm

  9. shecky
    February 22nd, 2008 at 10:42 am

    I’m sorry but as an artist (roll eyes!), DUDE! and the link provided sound like some awfully sour grapes.

  10. scooter
    February 22nd, 2008 at 11:31 am

    country singer Bucky Covingtons guitar player and right hand man Ducky Medlock has a stack of “andre” stickers that came outta charleston. they came along with mr. Haynes, who carpetbagged from westvaco to willamette in 1990. tim bob got them from someone in charlesston back in the day.

  11. Alex
    February 22nd, 2008 at 5:49 pm

    Um, yeah - brain wasn’t working at 3:37 am this morning. Thanks for pointing out the errors, grom!

  12. lauren
    February 22nd, 2008 at 11:14 pm

    OMG! These stickers are ALL OVER MY SCHOOL! It’s really cool to find out what the heck they mean. You can’t go into a room without seeing them. They are on the stairs, in lockers, under tables. It’s crazy! I live in Oklahoma so it’s cool that it spread all the way from South Carolina. Some may not call it art, but that’s because it’s not. It’s a movement.

  13. Vako
    February 23rd, 2008 at 12:09 am

    A few years ago I started noticing those things here where I live, also.


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