Shepard Fairey Facing The Giant

StolenSpace, Osborn St, London
The Residency, Whitby St, London

October 5th – October 31st

Update: The Residency portion of the show has closed but a section of the art has been consolidated at StolenSpace and remains on show until the end of November.

Shepard Fairey has visited London and a confetti of stickers, some major murals and a two site exhibition all testify to the presence once again of the World’s second best known street artist. In the exhibition Shephard Fairey treats us to a monumental “Greatest Hits” show, a reworking of classic Shepard Fairey images, like a retrospective revisiting. It is fascinating to scrutinise the show as a reminiscence of the barrage of street art we have witnessed from Shepard Fairey in London over the years.


Facing The Giant 2019 – Whitby St Residency



Facing The Giant 2019 – StolenSpace



Facing The Giant 2019 – StolenSpace


The Shepard Fairey story began with stickers, specifically his 1989 Andre The Giant Has A Posse sticker.


Andre The Giant Has A Posse and it loves Shoreditch 2019


His stickers tend to shortlived, not through any defect in the materials but simply that people do seem to like peeling them off as souvenirs.


OBEY, Shoreditch, 2019



Print & Destroy (or, Think & Create)



War & Peace sticker


Until the done-to-death “stay calm and...” meme, Shepard Fairey’s HOPE poster for the Obama campaign had been perhaps one of the most reworked images ever. It has been amusing to find examples of opportunist spoof Andre The Giant stickers, though as FOSH’s 3 month campaign to batter London ended a few months ago the FOSH sticker may well predate Team Fairey’s visit.


Fosh has a Posse



Santa, Darren John and Andre The Giant: all proud posse possessors


The classic Andre The Giant image appears in two forms in the Facing The Giant Exhibition. At StolenSpace a series of crosswalk signs are the mount for distressed Andre The Giant stickers, an edition of 75. Close inspection suggests that apparent rust may be a painted effect.  The code OG74520 at the bottom of the sign mimics something like a “NATO part number” or a catalog reference from a large government authority, it breaks down as Obey Giant, 7’4”, 520lbs.



OG Crosswalk Sign, mixed media on metal plate, Ed 74, 2019


The Andre The Giant image also appears in some very psychedelic looking prints based on early 90s images when Shepard Fairey was exploring other schemes for presenting his original Giant image.


Psychedelic Andre (1993, 2019) screenprint and mixed media collage on paper


The first new sticker Graffoto spotted this time round was the classic Obey Giant motif stuck on the ground, rather novel placement for a sticker. Stickers on a pavement with anything like a decent footfall are doomed, this one was still going strong on Commercial Street over 2 weeks later. No surprise maybe that a sticker first conceived 30 years ago should prove so durable.


Obey the pavement, Spitalfields, 2019


Several stickers were placed right below metal bands securing signs to lampposts, giving Obey Giant a possibly misleading saintly appearance.


Obey Giant 2019, Shoreditch


One of the first images to draw the eye in the Residency space was the Obey Star, the Obey command coupled with the strident logo highlights the unquestioning obedience required by politicians and brand marketers alike. It had its origins in an evolution of the Andre The Giant image after the estate of Andre The Giant sued Shepard Fairey to block the unlicensed use of the Andre The Giant image.


Obey Star (1996 & 2019) screenprint and mixed media collage on paper



Obey Star sticker, Shoreditch, 2016


Shepard Fairey’s early and mid 2000s street art in London was either stickers or paste ups.


Obey Giant, Islington 2006


It was a pleasure to track down a couple of new Shepard Fairy paste ups, there may be more out there. This first one actually saw Shepard hitting a location he first hit in 2007 when he was over for his Nighteeneightyfouria show, when this spot was much more likely to attract serious heat.


Obey Stay Up, Bethnal Green Road, 2019



Peace, Bethnal Green Road, 2007


Many of the classic Obey screenprints are presented in this exhibition as screenprints over collages of torn paper and newspaper adverts, simulating that patina of layers, rips and tears that accumulate on the streets. Unfortunately this Shepard Fairey – D*Face collaboration had suffered a little by the time we tracked it down.


D*Face Ruined My Life vs Obey Giant, Whitechapel, 2019


In his epic book “The Art Of One Man And His Dog” D*Face recalls reading in Thrasher magazine in the late 90s about “a strange ominous-looking sticker featuring a wrestler’s face and the words “Andre The Giant Has A Posse.” He was amazed to find that the artist had a website at a time when many corporations did not so emailing him a fanboy message complete with bait rider at the end “Hi Shepard, I am a London based skater and graphic artist and I really like your work. If you send me some stickers and posters I will put them up on my travels. P.S Is Shepard Fairey your real name?” D*Face was surprised to receive stickers, screen prints and a teeshirt. They met at a Shephard Fairey show at the Horse Hospital (yet another venue we are in danger of losing) and have been friends and collaborators ever since.


Andre The Giant vs “Peeling” D*Dog, also StreetArt Against Hate. 2019


Shepard Fairey and D*Face have one collaborative piece in this exhibition that you could easily miss as it is so small, on one of the metal crosswalk signs D*Face has added a signature wings and tongue motif.


Shepard Fairey and D*Face OG Crosswalk Sign, mixed media on metal plate, 2019


Shepard has painted three epic new murals on this visit, two in Shoreditch and one in Hackney. On what used to be known as The Dirty House, the award winning former home and studio of contemporary artists Sue Webster and Tim Noble, Shepard Fairey and team painted “Raise The Level”. The subject on the main façade is Shepard Fairey’s wife Amanda in what Shepard Fairey describes as a model of an environmental activist, both sides contain references to music, harking back to Shepard Fairey’s passion for music and his 2012 Sound and Vision show and both sides have random wandering fractures which scream "Torn and ripped".


"Raise The Level", 2019



This second Shoreditch mural is Shepard Fairey’s first experimentation with half tone shading, hence its title “Shadowplay”, itself a nod to Joy Division.  The top part of the face is unmistakably Obey Giant, not sure who the bottom half is nor if the combined image actually looks right.


Shadowplay, 2019


The third mural is a stunning Rose Shackle out on Mare St captioned “We Shape The Future”. It is Shepard Fairey’s contribution to a multi artist international PAINT (RED) SAVE LIVES campaign  to raise funds for Aids awareness . The image was first developed in 2006 and is a metaphor for strength in the face of adversity, it also appears in the concurrent indoor exhibition.


“We Shape The Future”, Mare St, 2019



Rose Shackle, screenprint and mixed media collage on paper (2006, 2019)


One of London’s longest lived Shepard Fairey illegal rooftop paste ups was this Chairman Mao at Kings Cross. Shepard Fairey has always made a point of mimicking, subverting or undermining the activity of advertisers, revealing their practices as sinister manipulation and exploitation, whilst simultaneously producing excellent exposure for Shepard Fairey Inc. This particular particular spot gave high visibility to traffic coming down the hill at Pentonville Road and also into town along Caledonia Road but the real genius of its placement was Chairman Mao was looking directly at a massive billboard on the diagonally opposite corner on this flat roof location.


Chairman Mao, Kings Cross, photo 2007


That Kings Cross Chairman Mao was up until the development of that building commenced in 2012, long outlasting the billboard which fell into disuse. In the exhibition Fairey has three “Money” prints depicting leaders who can be regarded as untrustworthy or totalitarian, perhaps even operating a brutally enforced cult of personality. “In Lesser Gods We Trust” pops up frequently in Shepard Fairey imagery, the text on the US dollar bill subverted to highlight the apparent deification of the leaders printing their faces onto currency.


Lesser Gods Mao,(2019); Lesser Gods Nixon (2019), Silkscreen and mixed media collage on paper


Another early paste up was the girl with grenade rose image, seen here over fragments of an older D*Face paste-up on a wall which is now home to Conor Harrington’s soldier, one of Shoreditch’s most iconic spraypainted murals. This looked like a metaphor for the apparatus of war pervading society and corrupting innocents but the updated version in the exhibition doesn’t have the hatching in the shade details, which lends itself better to Shephard Fairey’s concern that war has now become so commonplace and banal we no longer pay attention, which Fairey describes as “fitting in a painting-by-numbers style image.” Hence the title of the 2019 version, “War By Numbers”


Hanbury St, 2007



War By Numbers (2007, 2019) Screenprint and mixed media collage on paper


War is a theme Shephard Fairy’s political art often returns to. Flowers as a device to disarm weaponry is a powerful and frequent anti war protest metaphor, one we have seen from Shepard Fairey in London a few times including now in Facing The Giant.


Cordy House 2010



Cordy House 2007



Guns and Roses, (2006, 2019) Screenprint and mixed media collage on paper


In 2012, when Shepard Fairey was in London for his Sound and Vision show he pasted this art on a rooftop at The Birdcage Pub, I was fortunate to get up there to photograph it, one of my personal favourite street art photos. The image is the same as was seen on Bethnal Green Road in 2007 shown above.


Mujer Fatale, Columbia Road, 2012


That image was a famous Shepard Fairey image celebrating spirited, independent and powerful women who are confident in their femininity. The image rejoices in the name Mujer Fatale, appearing on the right below. The other portrait in the show photo below originated in 2007 and is Shepard Fairey’s wife Amanda with spraycan, ready to go out and get up.


Mujer Fatale, Commanda, (2007, 2019), Screenprint and mixed media collage on paper


Cargo Nightclub was the beneficiary of Shepard Fairey art on a couple of occasions.




This first photo of the collage of images outside Cargo nightclub is cripplingly embarrassing to the photographer but hey, you get the idea.


US Treasury NoCents, Rivington St, 2007



Proud Parents (2006, 2019) screenprint and mixed media collage on paper



Proud Parents (2006, 2019) Material stencil and mixed media collage on paper


Both show versions of the Proud Parents image are in the Wilkes St part of the exhibition (different rooms), the version screened onto a stencil has a much more layered and textured appearance, not really apparent in the comparison of those 2 photos.

It is a pleasure to see in the flesh for the first time a version of one of Shepard Fairey’s three “We The People” portraits. These were produced in response to the ban on political banners during Donald Trump’s inauguration, the strategy being to highlight how even minorities are still citizens under the constitution but were clear targets for Trump but even Trump couldn’t object to banners based on the first three words of the US Constitution. The images were distributed as posters given away on inauguration day and intended to be the subject of mass display in the International Women’s March, they succeeded in elevating the visibility of America’s “shared humanity”.


We The People …Defend Dignity


In 2015 the United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP 21 was held in Paris. Shephard Fairey created the artwork for a huge sphere that hung pendulum like from the Eifel Tower. The resulting Paris Agreement set down policies that 196 Nations signed up to, aiming to limit rises in average temperatures to 1.5 degrees above pre industrial levels. One of earliest and highest profile actions of climate denier Donald Trump was to announce that USA would withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Shephard Fairey’s Eiffel Tower sphere featured in Al Gore’s second environmental opus An Inconvenient Sequel: Speak Truth To Power and a domestic home or garden size version was spotted at Moniker Art Fair in London in 2017.


Earth Crisis Sphere, Paris 2015 (photo courtesy TourEiffel.Paris)



Earth Crisis (2016), A Delicate Balance (2015) screenprint and mixed media collage on paper


London has seen spectacular Shepard Fairey exhibitions in the past and to be honest we were actually due another blockbuster. In addition to inspiring D*Face to start his own career as a sticker artist, their early connection led to D*Face’s StolenSpace gallery coordinating Shepard Fairey’s Nineteeneightyfouria exhibition in 2007, that remains the largest solo exhibition by an urban artist that I can recall.


Shepard Fairey NineteenEightyFouria 2007



Shepard Fairey NineteenEightyFouria 2007

In 2012 Shepard Fairey’s Sound and Vision exhibition was also split across two sites though they were barely 30 yards apart. The main picture display was in the old Truman Brewery basement whilst in StolenSpace Shep Fairey set up a record store showing his private collection of hand modified record sleeves, not for sale.


Sound and Vision, StolenSpace old premises, 2012


Sound and Vision, Old Truman Brewery split level basement, 2012


There are 5 distinct categories of artwork in 2019 “Facing The Giant” exhibition.

There are works on metal; in StolenSpace there are the metal crosswalk signs and a mixture of Shepard Fairey images engraved onto aluminum plate, some portraying abuse of power, some anti war, some pro women.


OG Crosswalk Sign, mixed media on metal plate, Ed 74, 2019



Stolenspace, figures on metal,



Freedom Of Choice, 2017,mono engraving on metal


There is a selection of images on wood, many of them portraits from the world of music. As Shepard Fairey became more politicised he realised that a lot of his musical heroes were actually people who used the power of music to communicate political messages.


Silkscreen on Wood Panel


Love the HPMs in the StolenSpace back room


Wrong Path, Hand Printed Multiple silkscreen on collaged paper


Works where stencils have been laid onto collaged paper merit a very close stare to take in the effect of the stencil and the layers


Herstory The Future Is Unwritten Mixed Media Stencil, Silkscreen and Collage on paper, 2019


For Tunnel Vision and Big Brother we are into Big Gasp price tag territory


Big Brother (Polychrome) Mixed Media Stencil, Silkscreen and Collage on Die Cut Panel, 2019


Big Brother (detail)



Tunnel Vision Mixed Media Stencil, Silkscreen and Collage on Die Cut Panel, 2019



Tunnel Vision (detail)


Shepard Fairey is the sentry calling out authoritarian oppression, abuse, manipulation and propaganda. He has developed into a committed supporter of human rights, equal rights, climate awareness causes, health issues. We have known since forever he has a particular gift for capturing these themes in dramatic imagery which turns the Wacom tablet of the powerful back on themselves. Sudden departures in new directions are not expected and it is actually a relief to find the Fairey staples re-presented, re-visited and re-worked in stunning style in this exhibition.


There is a reason why Shepard Fairey is one of the top contemporary design artists working today and its great to be reminded by such a powerful show what we have known this for a long time can easily forget to appreciate. Facing the Giant steps up to the formidable task of matching Shepard Fairey’s previous London exhibitions and proves itself a weighty successor.

All photos except where credited: Dave Stuart

Subdude Show and Tell

Subdude Show
Monty's Bar, Brick Lane
September 19th - October 10th (extended)


In the politically fucked up dysfunctional times the UK finds itself in now, those days before the June 2016 Brexit Referendum seem like a period of almost benign stability. Well, apart from austerity, working family poverty, rising foodbank dependency, zero hours contracts, government collusion in corporate tax fraud, a refugee crisis and terminal environmental damage things may actually have been pretty kind of stable. Hell, even Trump hadn’t been elected. The Brexit referendum result shifted and shook everything, creating the landscape and motive for Subdude to let rip his street art on Shoreditch’s outdoor gallery.


We are sitting by the window at Monty’s Bar on Brick Lane, street characters are ranting outside; dibble pop in; we sip local craft beers and look back on how things got to this.


Subdude's Rogues' Gallery


Subdude’s street art started to appear in Autumn 2016, characterised by colourful A2 paste ups, political cynicism and social media jests.


The catalyst for this adventure curiously came from a street art workshop up in the West End, a programme to stimulate creation “experiential” art which Subdude joined having had his curiosity piqued by the street art he was seeing around his office close to Shoreditch. Subdude describes this defining moment.

“The leader sat us down in the morning and she showed us all the stuff and at lunchtime she said “okay, go do something “. I was going “I don’t have anything, I don’t have any supplies, what am I going to do?” I had said I was interested in text and this woman from New Zealand came up and she said “oh I am interested in words and I am interested in text too, let’s figure something out”. We went out and we just bought some chalk from the local Cornershop and we went to Russell Square, somewhere around there and we wrote in a big chalk circle on the ground “The World would be a better place if….” And we just dumped a bunch of the chalk there and we just backed away.”

So Subdude’s first street intervention came from a chance connection. Confidence grew, they did it again and they found they would get immediate reactions, some good, some not so good like the angry girl having a row on her phone scrawling “LOVE DOES NOT EXIST in huge capitals.

Subdude’s background is in journalism and assisted by a natural Irish gift of the gab the words certainly flow. Combining a fascination with world politics from an early age and a flair for succinct wordplay with the experience gained from the chalk circles experiments resulted in the step into street art as we know it.


Subdude Lost Drone, April 2017


Subdude needed some imagery to go with his words, and in pursuit of simplicity came up with the character “Little Dude”.


Little Dude v. Angry Boy by St8ment


“I came up with the Little Dude when I was depressed and down and I was thinking “what am I doing with my life and where is this going?” I had this little notebook and I think I drew this little figure 17 pages in a row and eventually the little dude emerged out of it. I showed it to one of my friends and he said “there is something wrong with you, you need to see somebody”.


Little Dude and Drone images feature in the Monty's Bar show


An early manifestation of Little Dude built upon the interactive experience of the chalk circles. We used to see these wooden panels appearing around Shoreditch pleading with passers by to take them on their adventures.

“People would take them off and they would take them on journeys and they would send me emails explaining the journey they took and there were so many great stories. I got at least a thousand photos on my computer just from that project.”

Graffoto has a few too:


September 2016 Found Art



Subdude v The Algorithm, September 2016


From there, the outright political paste ups emerged.

”My first political piece I think was Trump Tangerine Tyrant.  I was a nerdy kid when I was 13 or 14 I would watch the nightly news and follow what was going on from all over the world, so I have always been a bit of a political junkie.”


Subdude Tangerine Tyrant, February 2017


"Only Little People Pay Taxes" was Subdude's amusing response to the remarkable situation where the Irish government resisted EU rulings requiring them to claim back EUR13Bn of taxes it had not levied on Apple while the "Little People", itself a reference to leprechauns, are routinely pursued and imprisoned for much much smaller tax misdeameanours.


Mistress May & Only Little People Pay Taxes, November 2016


Subdude’s work pulls no punches in its crunching political sentiments spun with a mocking humour. The individuals or groups targeted by Subdude’s political barbs have their own ardent supporters, on the streets his art provokes conspiracy theories and scrawled responses, online combatants go purple with rage and outright hostility. You may be surprised to recall that in May 2017, prior to the most poorly judged gamble in political history since June 2016, Theresa May v. Jeremy Corbyn was relevant


Subdude Mistress May Puppy Jeremy, May 2017


“There is always a fine balance between making a serious point and getting a bit of humour into it, but sometimes it is so depressing that there is no humour. I have been trying to do something on the guy in Syria but I can’t think of anything too humorous about him you know. Hence Syrial Killer”.


Syrial Killer



Subdude and anonymous political commentator


“Doing the politics is tough too, even here (Monty’s Bar) I told the Italian barmen I did Mus-salvini and I was showing it to them and they were like “Great! Great! You’ve got it spot on but you’re criticising somebody else’s politics from the outside.”

If there is one thing that defines Monty’s charm it has to be its wonkytonk idiosyncracy and Subdude has worked with that beautifully, check out the lamp shade – flag décor game going on here.



Mus-Salvini


“In terms of reaction, the Chinese ones I have been putting up recently, people have been ripping them off the wall which to me is kind of good as you are provoking a response, but you can’t be sure if it is someone pro or anti the political subject or someone just engaging in local street art wars. I don’t think you know but you get a feel in terms of where you place them.”


Subdude, 2019, later water droplet embellishment by My Dog Sighs


“I guess the biggest one was the Israel one, that is one that gets ripped down everywhere, obviously someone is pro-zionist and determined that that is not going to appear anywhere.”

“I was doing the Islamic State one, there was four to begin with and they all had CALIPHofHATE, there was one about "we're gonna party like it’s the 7th century”, “We hate cartoons”, “What if the virgins hate me as much as other women do?” and “fundamentalists get things fundamentally wrong”. I show them to my friend [London based street artist] Hello The Mushgroom especially if there is something around female art to see if people are going to get things the wrong way and I also I am very aware that we are in a big Muslim area and I am not going out of my way to offend the local population or whatever but at the same time I am not going to let that stop me. That’s why I designed the Israel one. I had the CALIPHofHATE ones on my computer for at least two or three months and I was thinking “Do I want to put these out or do I not want to put these out” so I designed the Israel one to get next to it and each time I put it up it was one here and one here right next to eachother so I am showing I am taking the piss out of both of them and I am not taking sides. I was really surprised that the Israel one was ripped off the wall every time but the CALIPH of HATE one got ripped a few times but got more support.”


Subdude New Apartheid v. Caliph of Hate



Subdude Caliph of Hate


Subdude’s debut solo exhibition which has been critically well received by family and friends alike is based entirely on new images not seen on the streets, though some emerged blinking into the last of the Summer sun over the term of the show.


“From The Mouths Of babes”; Greta Thunberg looking saintly in Subdude solo show


Having a scribble board in an art gallery for comments is nothing new, think of the old fashioned "Comments Book" or the comments slips that exhibitionists stick to the wall at exhibitions. Subdude goes one step further using the feedback to identify the most popular image which will go out next on the street and also to invite people to propose soundbites for him to use in future street art. This echoes the way political commentators use biros and sharpies to add their views to his art on the streets.

“Of all the things in this show that is the thing that got the best reaction. That is borrowing from my first [chalk circles] and second [traveling art] projects.

There were at least 3 suggestions on there that were better than anything I would have come up with. Also I love that succinct 3 word, 4 word, 5 word thing”


Solo Show Brexit Interactive Selection


True to his word, as this incoherent mess of a hugely delayed blog post finally plops out the Brexit with the most ticks has been sighted down Brick Lane


Withdrawal Method, Brick Lane, Oct 2019


Subdude loves that idea of a dialogue through the art, about the art and indeed on the art.

“I had 70 Putin designs on my computer I put 3 of them out I think. It is one of those examples of where you hit your flow. I did 70 posters in 2 hours or something like that, cranking them out. Like the Brexit posters, I have done bits and pieces on Brexit but I feel I could have done loads loads more on that.”


Pick Your Favourite Leather Chaps Wearing Impaler


“The social media one I did a lot of designs and they are all about different aspects of social media but they are not really nailing it on the head because it’s a very complex subject and its difficult to come up with a concept in 3 words and really nail it at the same time. So when you do that interactive thing hopefully my art makes people think and their responses make me think so it becomes a bit of an exchange.”


Scribbles on Subdude's Art - indoors as well as out!


Subdude has developed a reputation for his sharp and critical political wit so it was a bit of a swerve from his normal acerbic tone earlier this year when New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Arderne’s response to the Mosque killings in Christchurch lead to Subdude saying something positive about a political leader for the first time

“Everybody knows I am very cynical or sceptical, I hope sceptical and not too cynical. When I did the positive one it got a very good reaction, in the kind of times we are living in people like that. Jacinda was one of my favourite ones.”


Jacinda Ardern Real Leader


Subdude has recently been creating outdoor collages of his street art on the street and some of the canvasses here reflect that new development.


Subdude street collage, July 2018 (also featuring a D7606/Silvio Allini collaboration)



Mashed up in the gallery


“If you look back at my stuff it is words words words, That whole collage I was trying to blank out the words, you’ll see very few words that you can actually read. That collage is about destroying the words.”

The collages imitate the layers, the tears and the dripping paint that a process of decay, deterioration and augmentation brings to the art on the street.




To wrap up on the alignment of Subdude's street art with the content of this first solo show, let's just look at a couple of "interactions" with Subdude's actual street art. Recently Subdude was asked to play cupid with a commissioned piece of street art in front of which Adam from Iowa proposed to Ian.


Subdude: commissioned proposal



Adam proposes to Ian, commissioned backdrop by Subdude (photo: Subdude)


The Psycho series took their fair share of scribbled feedback but the best interaction was thought up by this amusing and imaginative Italian.


N Korean Psycho, American Psycho and Italian


Finally, the “Why bother, what’s wrong with drawing apples on a plate?” question:

“This is where we get into the thin line between cynicism and scepticism, I don’t have any illusions about I am going to change the world but at a lower level if you make person think or make one person react you have made a tiny change. With my posters and art I’m not looking to make loads of money, I am just looking to pay my bills and pay my rent - I’m not looking to be the next Banksy. It’s not nice being a starving artist, it’s stressful.”


American Aristocrats; Bojo The Bozo - Subdude show



Bojo The Clown - street version with apposite caption by Benjamin Irritant



Zucking Interactive Street Art



Otto Crat


In a street art ecosystem where size matters, colour must dazzle for that insta social media hit, complexity is the skill signifier and international repping is everything, the small scale and the straightforward production of Subdude’s work and his dedication to constantly getting up has gone right out of fashion.

The Monty’s Bar show mapped (sorry - slow review) Subdude’s ascent from low-key modest beginnings and a steady growth resulting in an intense strong intelligent consistent and popular body of work. If he was a rock band, Subdude would be The Charlatans. What a dude!

Links:
Subdude Instagram

Monty's Bar Facebook

all photos: Dave Stuart except where noted