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Even though Obama's popularity has been sliding significantly, Shepard Fairey, designer of the viral blue-and-red Manifest Hope poster, thinks it's the perfect time to release a slick and comprehensive anthology of celebratory Obama-related artworks: Art for Obama, which he co-edited with Evolutionary Media Group founder Jennifer Gross, comes out October 2. In addition to getting a look at the imagery, we spoke with Fairey about Obama's approval ratings, how political art reaches beyond politics, and his thoughts on the artistic deification of our leader.Watch the Slideshow Siegel: Tell us about the idea behind Art for Obama. Fairey: People undervalue...

Via twitter from Jonah Goldberg JonahNROJust got email from NEA. Yosi Sergant resigned, effectively immediately.

[snip] Courrielche said officials on the hour-long call -- including NEA Director of Communications Yosi Sergant and Michael Skolnik, political director for hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons -- encouraged the artists on the line to create works of art in their respective fields related to health care, energy and the environment. "What I heard was a well thought-out pitch to encourage artists to create art on these issues," Courrielche told FOXNews.com. "We were told we were consulted for a reason, and they specifically stated those issues as the issues we should focus on, to plant the seed. It doesn't take a...

Artist Shepard Fairey, whose iconic HOPE campaign poster of Barack Obama was a global sensation, is back with a new image that both questions and deifies the President. Appearing on the cover of the Aug. 20 Rolling Stone, the portrait depicts Obama with a brow knit in determination, surrounded by a halo of stars. "Will he take bold action or compromise too easily?" asks a headline enshrining the President's head. Fairey said it wasn't meant to be a halo. Rather, the picture he worked from showed Obama standing in front of the presidential seal, he said. "It's one thing to...

The artist who created the “Hope” poster of President Barack Obama was sentenced to two years’ probation Friday after pleading guilty to three vandalism charges. Prosecutors dropped 11 other charges.

In a pre-emptive strike, the street artist Shepard Fairey filed a lawsuit on Monday against The Associated Press, asking a federal judge to declare that he is protected from copyright infringement claims in his use of a news photograph as the basis for a now ubiquitous campaign poster image of President Obama. The suit was filed in federal court in Manhattan after The Associated Press said it had determined that it owned the image, which Mr. Fairey used for posters and stickers distributed grass-roots style last year during the election campaign. The photo, showing Mr. Obama at the National Press...

BOSTON - A street artist famous for his red, white and blue "Hope" posters of President Barack Obama has been arrested on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti, police said Saturday. Shepard Fairey was arrested Friday night on his way to the Institute of Contemporary Art for a kickoff event for his first solo exhibition, called "Supply and Demand." Two warrants were issued for Fairey on Jan. 24 after police determined he'd tagged property in two locations with graffiti based on the Andre the Giant street art campaign from his early career, Officer James Kenneally said. One of...

A street artist famous for his red, white and blue "Hope" posters of President Obama has been arrested on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti, police said Saturday. Shepard Fairey was arrested Friday night on his way to the Institute of Contemporary Art for a kickoff event for his first solo exhibition, called "Supply and Demand." Two warrants were issued for Fairey on Jan. 24 after police determined he'd tagged property in two locations with graffiti based on the Andre the Giant street art campaign from his early career, Officer James Kenneally said. One of the locations was...

Shepard Fairey, the controversial street artist riding a roller coaster of publicity with his red, white, and blue posters of President Barack Obama, was arrested last night on his way to DJ an event kicking off his exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art.

NEW YORK – On buttons, posters and Web sites, the image was everywhere during last year's presidential campaign: A pensive Barack Obama looking upward, as if to the future, splashed in a Warholesque red, white and blue and underlined with the caption HOPE.

AP suing Shepard Fairey over altered image. See article.

So, where exactly did the communist graphics inspired artist Shepard Fairey get the image of Obama for his ubiquitous “Hope” poster featuring a confident, young Obama intently staring off into the distance for glorious leader’s future, anyway? Turns out the celebrated artist stole it from an Associated Press freelance photographer and never bothered to acknowledge where he got it in the first place. I guess the word “ethics” didn’t fit as easily on that iconic Fairey poster, eh? At least one Old Media photographer was curious about the source photo that the poster was based on. Philadelphia Inquirer photog Tom...

WASHINGTON — Even before he takes office, President-elect Barack Obama’s image will become part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery, the museum announced today. The gallery acquired the iconic red, white and blue collage by Los Angeles street artist Shepard Fairey, depicting Obama with the word “Hope.” The image — later modified with the messages of “Change” and “Vote” for the Obama campaign — became one of the most memorable images from the 2008 election. The curators at the Smithsonian Institution museum plan to hang it by Inauguration Day. “What I think is so fascinating is the...

Denver -- Artist Shepard Fairey says that he looks for subjects that are "authentic" -- and Illinois Sen. Barack Obama proved an inspiration on that count. So he created the "Hope" political portrait that, more than any, has become the icon of the Democratic presidential candidate. We sat with him last night [August 2008] at the Manifest Hope Gallery, site of the "Unconventional Convention," and talked about his role in the making of a political icon. Hundreds thronged Mayor Gavin Newsom's gathering celebrating art and artists inspired by Obama. The gift to party-goers: a poster of Fairey's now-familar image of...

I think Obama met his match. The guy who did the artwork for his campaign poster, L.A. street artist Shephard Fairey shares many of Obama's values and traits. Fairey is a pretentious, arrogant, pompous, self-indulgently and sickeningly hip Socialist as the video demonstrates. I came across this video of him at his show in D.C. in Oct. The name of his show: "Regime Change Starts at Home". It's really not that long, 5 min. or so. I know it's hard to watch these blow-hard arty-types go on about their "important work", but stick with it, you will see some unbelievable...

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...

Obama’s Venomous Artist-Fundraiser by Stig O’Hara and Dirk McQuickly Barack Obama has accepted an estimated two to four million dollars[1] through the help of Shepard Fairey, a "graffiti artist" who paints works glorifying Stalin, Lenin and Mao, while depicting Uncle Sam as a bloodthirsty killer -- and Obama has even written Fairey that he admires "the political messages involved in your work."[2] The political messages in Fairey's art are: 1) Communist dictators are god-like supermen 2) The United States is a police state at home and an imperialist oppressor abroad 3) Capitalism is an evil system based on greed and...

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...