2/22/2008

MODERN STIMULATIONS

!Giant!, 1996

Saddam, 1998

Big Brother is watching you, 2006

Interpol Sam, 2004

Proud Parents, 2007


Psycho Posse, 2006


Shepard Fairey


Starting in the summer of 1989, Fairey created a silk-screened sticker based on obey giant, best known for his role in Rob Reiner's film 'The Princess Bride.' The 2-inch-square black-and-white stickers are titled 'obey giant has a posse' and bear the exaggerated features of the larger-than-life media figure.

Obey Giant is also known as "André the Giant Has a Posse".

Caught between Andy Warhol's vision of the commercial graphic and its influence, and Keith Haring's "paint it anywhere" graffiti, the graphics produced by Fairey are social commentaries on the American way of life and the advertisements that reinforce that lifestyle.

The Obey campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. The first aim of Phenomenology is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one's environment. The Obey campaign attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the campaign and their relationship with their surroundings. Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with Obey propaganda provoke thought and possible frustration, nevertheless revitalizing the viewer's perception and attention to detail.
The medium is the message.


More about The Obey Manifesto and Fairey, HERE and HERE.

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