- Date
- 17 MAY 2024
- Author
- GLORIA MARIA CAPPELLETTI
- Image by
- COURTESY ARTIST OBEYGIANT.COM
- Categories
- Interviews
Interview with Shepard Fairey: OBEY’s Artistic Revolution in Milan
As one of the most influential street artists globally, Shepard Fairey, known by his moniker OBEY, has left an indelible mark on the art world with his thought-provoking and socially charged works. His solo exhibition “OBEY: The Art of Shepard Fairey” opened at the Fabbrica del Vapore on May 16th, is marking the first museum exhibition in Italy entirely dedicated to his oeuvre. This significant event is co-produced with Fabbrica del Vapore and promoted by the Municipality of Milan, with the curation handled by Fairey himself alongside the Wunderkammern gallery, in collaboration with the Deodato Group. The exhibition will be open to the public until 27 October 2024.
In a unique blend of traditional and digital mediums, the show extends beyond the gallery walls into the heart of Milan, thanks to an initiative by the Urban Vision Group. Select works will be displayed on the city’s maxi-digital systems, bringing OBEY’s iconic street art into the digital realm. Moreover, Milan will receive its first mural by Fairey in the Gallaratese district, an artwork conceived during his artistic residency at Fabbrica del Vapore, supported by the Manifestival Urban Art festival and promoted by the Arrigo and Pia Pini Foundation. This mural, a manifesto of "Peace," was developed in collaboration with the local community, reflecting Fairey’s commitment to creating art that resonates with and involves the public.
In our interview, Shepard Fairey shares his thoughts on the evolving nature of art and its mediums, emphasizing the importance of human connection and the role of art in fostering social and political discourse. He also discusses the impact of digital tools, AI and social media on contemporary art and communication, highlighting both the opportunities and challenges they present. Through his works, Fairey continues to inspire and provoke, encouraging a deeper understanding and appreciation of art’s pervasive role in everyday life.
Shepard Fairey told us that although he is often categorized as a street artist, he uses the streets as a way to connect directly with people, not because he believes it is the only venue for art. In his view, art should be everywhere – in the clothes people wear, the cars they drive, the video games they play, and the films and television shows they watch. He emphasizes that art permeates every aspect of life, but in the fine art world, it is often seen as more exclusive, elite, and narrow. Fairey wants people to understand the importance of art in every facet of life. Initially, the street was his primary medium to connect with people before he had other relationships or outlets. However, he continues to value street art while expanding to use as many platforms as possible.
Fairey also draws inspiration from music, using art to evoke joy while provoking thought about social and political issues. He mentions that his approach is well articulated in his show and cites musicians like The Clash, Bob Marley, Rage Against the Machine, Patti Smith, and the Dead Kennedys as influences. These artists used music to convey meaningful messages, and Fairey aims to do the same with visual art. He believes that in facing global crises such as the erosion of democracy and the destruction of the environment, creating engaging art can help shape people's attitudes and the narratives of the future.
You started working primarily in the 80s and 90s when the streets were your canvas. Nowadays, the streets have expanded to include the internet, and many young people are gathering online rather than in physical spaces. In the past, skate culture and street art fostered physical communities where young people connected and interacted face-to-face. However, today, many young people spend a lot of time on mobile phones and digital devices. How do you feel you can convey a message to these young people in a world that is transforming so much?
Well, I use all the digital tools and I use social media but I try to use those tools to connect back to the work I do in the real world, because it is extremely important that people don't forget that humans interacting face to face, changing things in the physical world, this is really how things evolve and progress. Isolation and the lack of respect and lack of humanity that happens through screens has really in many ways degraded the quality of our communication, so communication is easier but it's also impatient and rude.
Can we say that nowadays being in the street is still the strongest form of revolution or resistance or resilience?
Being in the streets, whether it's an art piece like a huge mural that I would do, or a street art piece that's a rebellious act of intervention, or activist communities protesting like what's happening now on college campuses about Gaza or like the Occupy Wall Street movement 13 years ago, these are really important things to demonstrate a commitment, because there's people taking themselves out of the comfort of their home, going and meeting with other people where they have a face-to-face conversation. That is a lot more genuine and respectful and honest, and a lot of what I am trying to do with my work is remind people that going out and embracing the chaotic world, and figuring out how to do that, without feeling traumatized, is really important to what we need to accomplish as a species, which is not isolating and being afraid and hateful. When you actually go out into the world and connect with people, you realize that humans are capable of communicating, solving problems together and not being selfish 100% of the time. It's very easy to be selfish when you're by yourself.
Yeah, I think also that physical contact is creating positive energy.
Exactly.
When you're just online all the time, we see there's a lot of mental health issues and depression.
So, a very ironic situation in my opinion is that we as humans are social, we crave social connection and yet doing it through social media, where it's only about likes and comments, it's a very superficial version of that, which makes a lot of people unhappy. They're desperate for that measurement of their connection and yet they feel completely unhappy alone at the same time. So, what I've realized is that going out into the world, when I paint a mural or do an exhibition like this and I get to talk to people face to face, it's just a much more positive experience I think for me and for them. And a lot of people say 'thank you' for taking the time to talk to me and I realize that it is meaningful to people and that's how you said, that's how you build energy and it's how people develop confidence, because seeing someone face to face, their body language and their words don't lie.
In light of the ongoing debate about AI and copyright, where many artists argue that AI models are trained using their own images without permission, have you ever experienced seeing your work being replicated by these AI systems? Given your past experience with the copyright infringement lawsuit over your Obama "Hope" poster, how do you feel about the current situation where AI-generated visuals can closely resemble original artworks created by artists like yourself?
I don't have a problem with it at all because AI it's a much more rapid and advanced version of what we do. Anyway all artists are inspired by a huge number of inputs and a lot of it is from what other artists have done, photographers, other creators, art history, what they see out in the world. Artists who like to say that they are unique and original I laugh at their delusion because creativity is always using tools. AI is a tool. People have shown me things that they attempted to generate with AI that looks like my work and I always know that my work looks better than that, because AI it can't think the way I think, it can imitate but it can't anticipate the next thing I will do, so I AI can be useful as a tool for creative people who use tools in the way they should be used, which is as a step in a process to push things further, not as something that dictates what you will do.
What final message would you like to share with our readers, given that most of them are part of the new generation?
My message is that all the digital tools and social media allow us to do things very quickly, but not with a lot of depth. Consider that maybe there's a better way. A way that doesn't create information overload and a sense of anxiety, fear of missing out, sometimes it's important to take a deep breath and spend time away from all of the things that make us feel hurried and anxious. All creativity requires space to think and experiment and that's how we progress creativity. Time is crucial to progression so I know from my own daughters who are 16 and 18 that they have trouble concentrating for long periods of time because of the tools and I think that they are happier when they do take the time, but they have so many distractions from their phones and everything else, so I would recommend looking at what makes someone genuinely happy and not anxious and spending more time doing that, being creative.
A final question just came to mind regarding AI deepfakes. As deepfakes become more prevalent, we may no longer be able to take what we see for granted. Your work focuses on questioning everything, so how do you think AI and deepfakes will impact our ability to discern truth from falsehood? Do you believe this will encourage people to critically evaluate what they see?
Well, this is one of the dangers of AI, the ability to create false narratives, that are basically very convincing propaganda. But my work has always been about questioning everything that we see and I think that what will happen with deepfakes being out in the world is that people will have to trust the source of the information. We've moved away from curation by creating tools that democratize it ,they give everyone an equal voice and I thought there are some good aspects to that, but there are some bad aspects to that too. People who have not developed credibility have the same voice that media like the New York Times have. With deepfakes happening, I think people will have to say 'do I trust this journalism, this journalist, do I trust this news outlet, do I trust this commentator'. There might be some good things that come out of that, because I have spent my entire life building credibility for my artistic voice.
The exhibition will be open until 27 October 2024 and will go beyond the exhibition spaces to spread across the city on the Urban Vision Group's giant screens.
On May 22nd at 13.30pm Shepard Fairey will give Milan his first mural in Italy, created in the Gallaratese district.
Further information and tickets https://www.obeymilano.it/
Interview by Gloria Maria Cappelletti
Images Courtesy Artist ObeyGiant.com
Special Thanks to AKA Milano