I do not make commercial works to please

It was enough of a photocopier. A photocopier and two cartons of color. Not a dollar in your pocket to pay the full colour version. Black, red, that is the trademark of the American Shepard Fairey - signed his first works of a compelling OBEY (obey) him sticking to the skin as a pseudonym. In the microcosm of street art, its identified Carmine stencils of black became the headlights of the nights of bitumen. At just over forty years, the graffeur, placardait giant faces inspired by professional wrestler André Roussimoff, made road. Those who ignore what this looks like a wall eaten by graffiti, but know the media glare of Shepard Fairey coup: the famous portrait of Barack Obama campaign Democrats colors is not a characteristic work both the blue is usually absent from its lines. Its color is red. A red shades, orange Braised or blood purple, to which Shepard Fairey departs rarely.

Difficult beginnings and monochrome photocopies, the choice of Red is not random born. From the beginning, Shepard Fairey queries mechanisms of urban propaganda, political slogans mass advertising. An arena requires the common denominator. "It is a predominant color in American advertising." It attracts the eye, captures attention, such as the Marlboro red or that of McDonald's... But also traditional propaganda red, always very graphic, found in China, Cuba, or under the nazi regime. "Hitting the retina in public space "To be able to recognize my work, be that recurring signs indicating that I am behind the work." Red has become my signature. "According to the media, he mitonne his own cooking: a red that he created himself for his paintings, a fire red and a Pantone 458 for prints, three shades of bombs graduated on fund or the stencil.

And then, beyond the red, there are these themes that back. The environment, the rights of man, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the excesses of capitalism... A cliché hair Shepard Fairey is sheet. In the United States, these topics a little scratch, this is sufficient. "I say what I think." I do not make commercial works to please. "In the exhibitions fashionable, we saw some Redden before a Caduceus turned as one dollar... If one considers the: profile of potential collectors, the artist takes risks. Because he chose a route that the purists of the graff cling to dismiss. As his friends Invader and Banksy, he crossed the threshold of the galleries and museums, "to register urban art in sustainability. By selling his works to Gold Award, the artist won here that it will spend on the walls of the city. A principle of communicating vase which follows a line of designer products OBEY. T-shirts, bags, jewellery, style Fairey fuels a real business. When asked on the paradox between his sense of business and the consumer through it decries, reply fuse: "Since Warhol, art is more boasts to be a valuable thing disconnected trade." With these t-shirts I affects different people. "Fairey is a hiatus alone. Last year, the Museum of Boston he devoted a retrospective. On the evening of the opening, it was at the police station for degradation of the urban furniture...