Street Artist’s Week

I get nostalgic whenever I see that original Andre the Giant has a Posse sticker. it brings me back to high school when my best friend Siobhan and I used to go down to Union Square to watch the boys skateboard. We were a little boy crazy so I treasured the Andre sticker one of the skater guys gave us. I think I stuck it on this lunch box I covered with stickers- geez. I know a lot of people think Shepard Fairey is a big sell-out for cashing in on his work, but I think everyone needs to grow-up and make money eventually. This book shows how it all began from his very first designs he did at art school- the Buddy Cianci (the very popular but corrupt mayor of Providence at the time) billboard where he replaced Buddy’s head with Andre’s was the story I heard most often at RISD. Shepard tells the story-”I didn’t even know it but it turned out that Cianci had been the mayor years before, and was kicked out of office for beating up his ex-wife’s lover and putting a cigar out in the guy’s eye while city cops held him down. Everyone figured the image of a wrestler was supposed to be a way of calling Cianci a brute. Although I didn’t intend to make a statement, the incident opened my eyes to the power of propaganda.” The book continues through over seventeen years of work until his most recent stuff- posters for bands, covers for books, his magazine Swindle. I love the many street photos of his giant wheat pasted Andre heads and the photos of the posters peeling off city walls. I think his work looks best installed on the street but you can also buy many many posters, stickers, toys. pins etc. here. And you can get a copy of this book here. You can also watch an interesting interview with him here.

© Julia Rothman 2007