Shepard Fairey Quotes
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I've never really considered myself just a street artist. I consider myself a populist.
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MY INSPIRATION FOR THIS LIMITED EDITION DESIGN WAS BASED ON THE LEGACY OF HENNESSY AS A BRAND. TO ME, HENNESSY HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT QUALITY, AUTHENTICITY, TRADITION, AND ELEGANCE.
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I wear some of my stuff, but usually the less in-your-face designs. I get a little self conscious, there is a fine line between pride and ego.
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I want to be proud of this country [the USA], but when aspects of our policy don't align with my ethics, I want to protest them and try to change them. Being complicit because it's the home team is nationalism, not patriotism.
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I think the idea of freedom or liberty is really misused for political reasons, but it's something that resonates with people to the core. People want to be masters of their own destinies, but at the same time, I think they do so selectively. Sometimes they want to be told exactly what to do so they don't have to think for themselves - as long as they can still exercise their free will.
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There's always a lot that's making me angry, but it won't tie into the election. I mean nothing against Hilary Clinton. I agree with Hilary on most issues, but campaign finance structure makes me very angry, because it means that politicians are going to have to raise a huge amount of money, which narrows the field dramatically.
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A lot of people thought I got famous as a studio artist, then decided to cash in on it. But it actually was just a matter of survival for many years, and I felt it was really important for me to be able to say whatever I wanted with my street art and fine art.
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Every spoof gives more power to the original.
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Public art is ephemeral by nature. Google 's new project not only catalogs an artist's work but archives it and allows people to see the art long after it has disappeared.
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I think the freedom to express one's views is more important than intellectual property.
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If you're creating something that has some sort of cultural currency - if the idea is getting out there - then that will probably yield money in some form, whether it's through selling art or selling books or being asked to give a lecture.
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Obama has had a really tough time, but there have been a lot of things that he's compromised on that I never would have expected. I mean, drones and domestic spying are the last things I would have thought he'd support. I've met Obama a few times, and I think Obama's a quality human being, but I think that he finds himself in a position where your actions are largely dictated by things out of your control. I'm not giving him a pass for not being more courageous, but I do think the entire system needs an overhaul and taking money out of politics would be a really good first step.
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I love the classic trucker jacket as an icon of rock 'n' roll and rebellion.
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If the idea that my safety can only be enhanced by putting other people's privacy and safety in danger, then I don't want to be more safe.
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If being original means having to throw paint in front of a jet turbine to hit a canvas 50 ft away then lets not be original.
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I might be botching this quote but I agree with the idea that a measure of society is not how it treats its most powerful but how it treats its most vulnerable, including the poor and incarcerated and - I would add to that - the people whose ideas are not currently in favor.
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The world has lost a great musician who will always be an inspiration to me and those at OBEY GIANT.
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I hate to say Americans are ignorant and lazy, but a lot of them are ignorant and lazy. It's just like what I was talking about with Rebel Music and art. When you live in a place that has a lot of good things that make life easier, it's easier to take them for granted. But what frustrates me to no end are people who want to blame Obama or blame anything that is something that if they were actually doing anything as simple as voting, it might not be as bad as it is.
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The social and political issues the world faces are bigger than a few leaders. I made a lot of work about corporate influence in government, which is a problem in both parties and under any president.
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I've met Obama a few times, and I think Obama's a quality human being, but I think that he finds himself in a position where your actions are largely dictated by things out of your control. I'm not giving him a pass for not being more courageous, but I do think the entire system needs an overhaul and taking money out of politics would be a really good first step.
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The way I make art, the way a lot of people make art, is as an extension of language and communication, where references are incredibly important.
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Just because you've reached a certain level of success, that doesn't mean you've become corrupted by the system.
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When it comes to the street-art world, there are a lot of people who realize if they go out and put up a few pieces of street art and photograph them really well, even if their locations weren't actually that high-profile or dangerous, with the level of exposure they get from the Internet, with a large audience, they can maintain that rebel cache by having it be theoretically documented street art.
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As a street artist, I'm used to sharing my stuff with the public. It's a communal experience. I've learned not to be so precious, but rather to enjoy the process.
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Art shows and the institutions end up being the couriers for culture for the next generation and are an important component as well. It may seem ironic from one perspective, but I think if you look at my overall strategy, it's actually not out of step.
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I've never had an original thought in my lifeand there's tons of people on the internet happy to tell me just that.
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The Internet wasn't even an option for me, so one of the reasons I was so motivated to do street art was because there was no other outlet. Maybe if the Internet had been around then, I would have tried to do stuff that went viral and was clever and got me a lot of hits.
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The sticker has no meaning, but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning.
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Free speech is important whether you like what's being said or not. The reason why it's so important is that the entire spectrum of ideas needs to be heard so that the best ones are embraced and rise to the top. If you're a liberal and don't like conservative speech and you try to stifle that conservative speech, you need to be prepared for your own progressive speech to be stifled when the power shifts out of your favor.
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The problem with copyright enforcement is that when the parameters aren't incredibly well defined, it means big corporations, who have deeper pockets and better lawyers, can bully people.
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