OBEY the Streets

Born in 1989, the OBEY street art campaign has taken the world by its, for the most part, unrealising horns.

The idea behind obey is to provoke the idea of propaganda in advertising. By pasting his iconic Andre the Giant image around the world, Shepard Fairey has worked his way into an area of art that is rarely explored. The idea was that, by making his art ‘just there’ people would begin to question what they were seeing. Since the beginning of the OBEY movement, Fairey has also explored more traditional forms of art, from oil paint to lithography.

It is this work that led to the Sound & Vision exhibit at Stolen Space Gallery in London’s Brick Lane. Inspired by music and the variety of sounds around him, the David Bowie titled show takes this inspiration and reflects it in Fairey’s own style.

With the small space at Stolen Space dedicated to his reproduction LP covers, Fairey also kitted the room out with a variety of records from his private collection, alongside various handcut stencil discs made from old vinyl records. In this space were two purpose designed record players, placed so that viewers could listen to the artist’s albums while viewing his work. The second space, only opened for this specific show from Shepard Fairey, showed a variety of his larger works, commenting on climate change, the economy and even a controversial ‘jubilee’ piece depicting Queen Victoria. While downstairs, was a room filled with portraits, on both wood and metal plates. These portraits were seemingly of Fairey’s personal inspirations, showing artists from the music industry, alongside art legends like Keith Harring.

The exhibit at the Tate London showcasing photographs by William Klein, shows how different forms of art lend themselves to eachother, the transformation from photography and music into such magnificent, painted art pieces is awe inspiring and an inspiration to keep working at your passion, taking influence from everything around you.—Joe Morrissey