Obama Art

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Just liked the art--really!

"Barack 2008;" Drawing by Elizabeth Peyton;
8 1/2 x 6 inches, pastel pencil on paper.






Illustration by Rodrigo Corral/Ben Wiseman

From:
New York Magazine
"Obamaism," by Kurt Andersen
Published Nov 9, 2008

Excerpt:
Even before he takes office, there is one large, low-hanging fruit that Obama is harvesting already: The rebranding of America in the rest of the world is under way. Intolerant, ignorant, bellicose cowboy-America is suddenly … not. And thanks to overwhelmingly white America, as Tunku Varadarajan wrote on Forbes.com, “a black man will be the most powerful person on earth” and “the most powerful black man in the history of mankind.” Also? His father was actually African. Foreigners are even more astonished than we are.

But the election happily overturned another set of conventional wisdoms that were not specifically racial: Reason and intelligence made a comeback against the heretofore ascendant forces of the idiocracy. For the moment, America is reality-based once again.

After a campaign in which “intellectuals” became a pejorative, we’ve elected as president a former professor and an extraordinarily fluent, subtle writer. Obama’s preacherly ability to give rousing speeches was never his main appeal for me. Rather, it’s the coherence and complexity of his thinking, and his preternaturally cool, Spock-like bias toward the empirical—that is, his regard for facts, even when they lead to ideologically uncomfortable truths.

This is evident in his books, but even more thrillingly in his public comments as a politician. For instance, in a controversial newspaper interview last winter, he gave the Republicans’ modern superhero his proper due. “Ronald Reagan,” Obama said, “changed the trajectory of America in a way that Richard Nixon did not and in a way that Bill Clinton did not. He put us on a fundamentally different path because the country was ready for it.” It is unfortunate that “articulate” has come to be regarded as a kind of quasi-racist code word when used by a white person (such as Joe Biden last year) to describe a well-spoken black person, because Obama really is supremely articulate—not “for an African-American” but for a politician, for a human being. The guy is incredibly smart, and America elected him—even though he lacks the camouflage of the incredibly smart Bill Clinton’s bubba-ism.


http://nymag.com/news/politics/52029/

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

'Hope,' by Shepard Fairey (2008)





'Progress,' by Shepard Fairey (2008)





Shepard Fairey -- The Artist






Yosi Sergant -- The Publicist

Shepard Fairey:
I met Yosi a couple of times in the past but the time we spoke about Obama was at an Adidas event at the end of October 2007. Interestingly enough, we talked about Obama and I said "Yeah, I dig Obama, he'll probably get crushed by the Clinton juggernaut but I dig him." Yosi was not as much of a pessimist as I was and he said it would be cool if I did something for [Obama]. Yosi thought we could figure something out. I said I'd love to but in my past as an artist, I've always worked as an outsider and I've always decided not to go through the bureaucracy. My philosophy is usually if I want to make things happen I'll just act first and apologize later.

But with this I actually knew that Obama's support was probably going to be people who are fairly progressive and an endorsement from someone like me might not actually be a welcome endorsement if it made Obama seem like the fringe, street-artist, radical types were his supporters. I really wanted to help and I didn't want to be that unwelcome endorsement or affiliation.

So I talked to Yosi about it and he reached out to some people he knew. Interestingly, Hill Harper came to my art show in LA at the beginning of December -- just about a month after Yosi and I spoke. Just by the nature of my work and the topics in my artwork, Hill asked me who I was supporting. I said Obama and I mentioned to Hill the same desire to do a poster. Hill said he knew Obama personally and he would look into it as well.

I didn't want to act without permission and have it be seen as undermining Obama's goals in any way. Then Yosi finally got the go-ahead about two weeks before Super Tuesday for me to do an image. I looked for an image that I thought was a good image, illustrated it in one day and had the posters in production the next day. I sent the final over to Yosi who said "Looks great, let's roll with it." I had screen-printed posters printed immediately, sold 350 and put another 350 up on the street. We used the money from selling the 350 to then print up another 4,000 posters that are the ones we gave out at those rallies you mentioned.

It also went viral. As soon as I posted it on my web site a lot of people that go to my web site saw it. Yosi also blasted it out to a lot of his contacts. It became very clear quickly that the demand for an image like that had not been supplied and that the Obama supporters were very hungry for it and also very motivated to spread it.

I think what then happened was that there were a lot of people who were digging Obama but they didn't have any way to symbolically show their support. Once there was an image that represented their support for Obama then that became their Facebook image or their email signature or something they use on their MySpace page. Or they printed out the image and made their own little sign that they taped up in their office. Once that exists it starts to perpetuate and it replicates itself.

I think a perfect pop culture example of something like that is the Rolling Stones tongue logo. The tongue was a secondary logo on the back of the Sticky Fingers album, but it was iconic and simple. Now it's sort of undisputed as the Rolling Stones logo even though it was never created intentionally to be that. It found an audience and it manifested.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-arnon/how-the-obama-hope-poster_b_133874.html

How the Obama "Hope" Poster Reached a Tipping Point and Became a Cultural Phenomenon:
An Interview With the Artist Shepard Fairey
by  Ben Arnon
Posted October 13, 2008

[Artiste]

Merci jmmgallagher !

I enjoy very much those two posts !

It is interesting how the Fairley image become popular ! It's clearly stated how that came about !

Any text too about the other artists ?

And did you create such an image too ?

Au revoir,
hugs!

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

No, not me, Artiste--but I love art. People need to be more aware--somebody made  this!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shepard_Fairey

Shepard Fairey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Shepard Fairey at a book signing for
Supply & Demand: The Art of Shepard Fairey

Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina) is a contemporary artist, graphic designer and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene and became known initially for his "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign. The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston calls him one of today's best known and most influential street artists. He usually omits his first name.

Fairey created the "André the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign in 1989, while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). This later evolved into the "Obey Giant" campaign, which has grown via an international network of collaborators replicating Fairey's original designs. In a manifesto he wrote in 1990, and since posted on his website, he links his work with Heidegger's concept of phenomenology. His "Obey" Campaign draws from the John Carpenter movie "They Live" which starred pro wrestler Roddy Piper, taking a number of its slogans, including the "Obey" slogan, as well as the "This is Your God" slogan. Fairey has also spun off the OBEY clothing line from the original sticker campaign. He also uses the slogan "The Medium is the Message" borrowed from Marshall McLuhan.

[Artiste]

Merci jmmgallagher !

Tu as raison ! Your saying:         No, not me, Artiste--but I love art. People need to be more aware--somebody made  this!           ; is very factual !

Being an artist for over 50 years now creating daily, I am still puzzled as to why nearly 100 per cent of the populations (no matter in which country) do not know about art, as everyone takes it now for granted, I guess, but is it like eating a hamburger: because nobody thinks a bull or cow, or chicken, etc., was killed to create it ?

And whem you educate someone about art and even if you offer an original painting for say 200$ or even 20$, they find that too expensive, but they will go purchase art at 300$ at Wall-Mart without blinking an eye and not knowing that it is a million plus copy which was done by a wealthy criminal likely who stole it that image from an artist !

Much needs to be done to educate the public about art... as you say - if I may interprete that from your phrase.

Why do you like art, may I ask jmmgallagher ?

More pics ?

Au revoir,
hugs!

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Grâce à Elle--

"The Audacity of Joke,"
by James Lillis of Brisbane, Australia
(2008)

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

The New Yorker
Cover
November 17, 2008

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Great video, great art--

The Naked Campaign--Coda

Cartooning by Steve Brodner
Trumpet solo by Jon Faddis

http://www.newyorker.com/online/video/nakedcampaign/coda/?xrail

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

http://www.newyorker.com/online/2008/11/17/slideshow_081117_obama

Visions of Obama

ILLUSTRATION: JOHN RITTER, AFTER JAMES ROSENQUIST, “PRESIDENT ELECT” (1960-61);
PHOTOGRAPHS FROM LEFT: STEVE SCHAPIRO, AP, BRUCE DAVIDSON/MAGNUM, EVE ARNOLD/MAGNUM, PLATON





ILLUSTRATION: RICHARD THOMPSON





Illustration: Barry Blitt





Illustration: Barry Blitt





Illustration: Barry Blitt

[Artiste]

Wow !!

Merci !

I'll come back to re-see these !

More please !

Au revoir,
hugs!