Free Republic

From Barack Obama's official website: “I wanted to make an art piece of Barack Obama because I thought an iconic portrait of him could symbolize and amplify the importance of his mission. I believe Obama will guide this country to a future where everyone can thrive and I should support him vigorously for the sake of my two young daughters. I have made art opposing the Iraq war for several years, and making art of Obama, who opposed the war from the start, is like making art for peace. I know I have an audience of young art fans and...

This Month in Advertising Buzz up! The ad man behind Guitar Hero and Nike takes a subversive look at American ideals in his new book, E Pluribus Venom. As a graphic designer, Shepard Fairey has helped market some of the biggest names around: Nike, Zeppelin, Guitar Hero. And with his new book, E Pluribus Venom (Gingko Press, $30), Fairey has taken to branding America’s great national ideals -- capitalism, nationalism, militarism -- with a series of subversive ads. You won’t find much of the clear-eyed optimism of Fairey’s Obama posters (not included in the book), but you will find America....

Fairey’s $400k for Obama June 9, 2008 Back in January we posted on Shepard Fairey’s posters in support of the Barack Obama campaign. At the time, some comments cast doubt over how effective the posters would be. Not only is Obama now assured of the Democratic nomination but, we can reveal, sales of Fairey’s posters (shown above) raised over $400,000 to help him get there… Of course the posters in themselves, we assume, played only a very minor role in securing the nomination (although if anyone wants to conduct a poll on voter intentions versus coolness of poster design we’d...

Barack Obama's campaign has been all about image. The well-dressed, impeccably groomed, and elegantly articulate speaker was able to speak of hope, change, and unity, and for awhile the public bought it. Capitalizing on the huge store of guilt, compassion, and hope for better racial relations among the vast majority of Americans of all races, Obama posed as the man who might heal the wounds of the past. The bonhomie lasted for months, as the press corps, no strangers to their own guilt and hope and leftist inclinations, averted its eyes from those elements of his politics and life story...

A photographic essay of Obama propaganda and the Media's willing assistance with it In America we have always been a skeptical people. One of our states even has a skeptical motto. Missouri calls itself the "Show Me State" proving that Missourians don't imagine they'd be apt to have the wool pulled over their eyes too readily. Consequently, when most American citizens look at their politicians they usually view them through a prism of skepticism and since the assassination of John F. Kennedy, our skepticism has almost bordered on the irrational. (Photo with Obama logo behind by Reuters) The American press...

Obama's Propagandistic Iconography: the Making of a Messiah By Warner Todd Huston | June 22, 2008 - 14:45 ET A photographic essay of Obama propaganda and the Media's willing assistance with itIn America we have always been a skeptical people. One of our states even has a skeptical motto. Missouri calls itself the "Show Me State" proving that Missourians don't imagine they'd be apt to have the wool pulled over their eyes too readily. Consequently, when most American citizens look at their politicians they usually view them through a prism of skepticism and since the assassination of John F. Kennedy,...

<p>All political art is propaganda (that is the point), but most political posters are bland, forgettable, wallpaper.... [Shepard Fairey] wanted to make posters that the cool cats would want. The 2008 Democratic primary season equivalent of the Che poster (with all that implies). More Mao, more right now.... The kind of poster that might sell on eBay, as a signed Fairey Obama recently did, for $5,900....</p>

It's a free country, and if Barack Obama's campaign wants to make money from posters ($70 a pop!) designed by the artist Shepard Fairey, they can go right ahead. (The candidate himself thanked the artist, and said that his "images have a profound affect on people, whether seen in a gallery or on a stop sign." You know, because they're put on stickers and posted all over public property.) And I'm sure I'll be told that the artist uses Communist propaganda imagery in an ironic way, or a satirical way, or in a way of making a pro-freedom political statement...

There is something unsettling and very familiar in the Obama poster campaign which has plastered his image over the country. The posters depict the same graphic closeup of the candidate with one block word either "Hope," "Change" or "Progress" at the bottom. I knew that I had seen this before, and then it came to me that this image appropriates the graphic style of totalitarian Soviet propaganda. It recalls the idealzed portraits and personality cult of the "Beloved Leader" such as Stalin and Lenin. The leader, face illuminated by a "holy" light, looks off to the horizon and sees the...

"Does pro-Obama creativity say more about the candidate or his fans?" Well, the New York Times asked the question, so it must be worthy to print and all that. Does the fact that Obama's official poster-maker loves Stalin and Mao say something about Obama, or just Obama's fans? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/magazine/13wwln-consumed-t.html New York Times Magazine (p.27) April 13, 2008 The Art Of Politics Does pro-Obama creativity say more about the candidate or his fans? by Rob Walker Obama art Whether or not Barack Obama would make a good president, it’s clear that he makes an excellent muse. It’s hard to think of...

http://creativity-online.com/?action=news:article&newsId=124743&sectionId=behind_the_workCreativity Jan 30, 2008 Shepard Fairey: Obey Obama The designer's endorsement as a striking poster series. by Jeff Beer As the party primaries heat up and clear front runners begin to emerge, so too do the gaggles of enthusiastic endorsements for the remaining candidates. This week, Democratic hopeful Barack Obama received a significant nod of approval from a popular cultural figure. Oh, and Teddy Kennedy said he liked him, too. Shepard Fairey, he of Obey fame, has planted his foot firmly in the Obama camp with the release of a limited edition print of the Senator from Illinois, in an...