Amy Sherald

Michelle Obama White House Portrait by Amy Shearld 2018

2018

In the early ’90s, I fell in love with ’60s psychedelic posters from artists like San Francisco’s Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Rick Griffin...

The Mojo poster was part of VIP ticket packages for the tour. Artists: Shepard Fairey Bands: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers Edition Details Year: 2010 Class: Fine Art Print Status: Official Tour Print Run: 175/250 Paper: Holographic Fine Art Foil Paper Size: 18 X 24 Markings: Numbered by the artist in black felt marker. Print measures 18X24 and is in perfect condition with no visible flaws. Any questions please let us know. Thank you Frank Shepard Fairey was born February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina, USA. Fairey's adolescence was shaped by the influences of punk-rock and skateboarding. In his teens, he began creating his own bootlegged clothing and skateboard decals featuring bands and brands he liked. Fairey’s early bootlegs were created because his generally conservative parents would not purchase the clothing he wanted. In 1986, he stumbled upon the Andre the Giant image for which he has become famous for, in a local newspaper. The image was selected when Fairey demonstrated to a friend how to make a stencil; it was modified slightly to include the meaningless caption “Andre the Giant has a Posse” and made into a sticker. The sticker was reproduced en masse and began to appear around Charleston as it spread through the skateboarding community. While the sticker had no inherent meaning, the public response varied from disregard to curiosity to out-right fear. Civic groups editorialized and theorized that the Andre image was affiliated with everything from a band to a hate group. Nevertheless, the stickers were considered vandalism and in time, Fairey would face numerous charges for defacing public property. Fairey's record includes 15 arrests as of March 2009, for defacing property as a result of his so called bombing campaigns. Fairey affixed the stickers on municipal properties nearly everywhere he went, and the Andre sticker was being seen in Boston and New York City, soon others procured the image and were encouraged to spread the campaign worldwide in the form of stickers, stencils and wheat-paste posters. Following high school, Fairey was accepted to the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where, with an interest in screen printing, he majored in illustration. In 1992, while still attending RISD, Fairey started Alternate Graphics, a mail order catalog business through which he could merchandise his own t-shirts, skateboards, posters and stickers. He also took small commercial illustration jobs to help supplement his income. Shortly thereafter, the Andre the Giant Has a Posse logo was shortened simply to Obey Giant. The Obey, for which Fairey has also become synonymous, is derived from the 1988 John Carpenter film They Live. In the film, aliens who appear as human, rule the governments and economies of the world while the humans are reduced to an unwitting, hypnotized slave-class. Themes from the film continue to appear in Fairey’s work. Over time, the Andre the Giant face was modified into a more simplified and streamlined appearance, reminiscent of Russian Constructivist/Rodchenko style Soviet propaganda posters of the 20th Century. In 1994, filmmaker Helen Stickler featured Fairey and his sticker phenomenon in her documentary: Andre the Giant has a Posse. The following year, Fairey started Subliminal Projects with the late Blaize Blouin, his friend and pro-skateboarder. Subliminal Projects created and released several Obey-Giant themed posters and skateboard decks. Fairey directed a short skateboarding film featuring some of his friends through Subliminal Projects and Alternate Graphics titled A.D.D.(Attention Deficit Disorder). In 1996, Fairey moved to San Diego, California to create Giant Distribution with partner Andy Howell. Later, with Howell, Phillip De Wolff, Dave Kinsey, he formed First Bureau of Imagery (FBI), a branding, marketing and design firm established to focus on the increasingly lucrative sports market. FBI was closed in 1999 and Fairey, along with De Wolff and Kinsey created BLK/MRKT, similar to FBI. At this time, Fairey met and began working with Amanda Alaya, whom he would later marry. BLK/MRKT moved to Los Angeles in 2001. Here, they could expand and were able to incorporate a small gallery. Fairey and Kinsey eventually bought out De Wolff’s share of the partnership and by then had set up offices in the Pellissier Building (home of the historic Wiltern Theater), in the Koreatown section of Downtown Los Angeles. In December 2001, Fairey and Alaya were married in Charleston, South Carolina, Amanda has occasionally been the model for Fairey's prints (see: Commanda, 2007). Additionally, Amanda Fairey works in the capacity as publicist, agent and representative of her husband. In 2003, Kinsey and Fairey split. Kinsey retained the BLK/MRKT name and gallery, which he relocated to Culver City, California. Fairey retained the offices and most of the employees to create Studio Number One and the gallery was renamed Subliminal Projects. Studio No. 1 has since gone on to produce numerous memorable album covers, concert and film posters. In 2004, Fairey created the magazine Swindle with his old friend Roger Gastman. Swindle is a quarterly publication that features fashion, art, music and other pop-culture elements. During the 2004 presidential election, Fairey teamed up with artists Mear One...

In the early ’90s, I fell in love with ’60s psychedelic posters from artists like San Francisco’s Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Rick Griffin, as well as LA’s John ...

Artists: Shepard Fairey: Bands: David Byrne Talking Heads Edition Details: Year: 2024 Class: Art Print Status: Official Run: 550 Technique: Screen Print with Gold Metallic Inks Pap...

This screen print, “A Cracked Icon,” is a reference to one of my favorite musicians, David Bowie, and his song “Cracked Actor.” I’m fascinated by how we process fragmentation and mut...

Chuck Sperry lives in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, where he’s made his particular style of rock poster designs for over 15 years. He operates Hangar 18, a silkscreen print studio, located in Oakland. Sperry works in San Francisco, but exhibits internationally from Athens to Argentina, Bristol to Belgrade (visited Belgrade at the invitation of The Cultural Minster of Serbia). By conducting workshops and lectures all over the planet, Sperry’s tutelage has inspired a new generation of rock poster and silkscreen artists worldwide. His artwork has been exhibited at leading San Francisco art institutions including the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; his prints have been archived by the Achenbach Graphics Arts Council, The Oakland Museum of California, San Francisco Public Library (Main Branch), the United States Library of Congress, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. He has brought his rock artistry to projects for Goldenvoice, Live Nation, Virgin Megastore, Guitar Center, Random House, Harper Collins, Harvard University Press, Nylon, and Wired. Released in early 2009, the documentary film “American Artifact...

Hand signed in pencil and dated '85 lower right corner with edition number in lower left corner. Published by Brooke Alexander Editions, New York. This is AP 2/10 and the edition is 38.

Screenprint in colors, on Coventry Rag Paper. Published by Martin Lawrence Editions. Reference Littman, K, & Haring K. Keith Haring, Editions on Pape...

Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going to?, Cardboard print on paper, 1/10, 2005, 630 x 450mm (print dimensions), 740 x 540mm (paper dimensions) Born in Windhoek, Andrew van Wyk...

"I Love Music", was created using a technique called cardboard printmaking. This process was pioneered in the 90's when linoleum blocks were difficult to access for Namibian print-m...

From the set of five lithographs, on Arches paper, with full margins published by Seibu Department Stores Ltd., Tokyo. Signed, dated, annotated 'III' and numbered from the edition o...

Silkscreen ink on embossed Arches cover paper. Signed, dated and numbered from the Printers Proof edition of 8 (The regular edition was 250) in pencil on verso by Keith Haring estat...