Banksys & Fairey; 2 of the Best Street Artists

Banksys & Fairey; 2 of the Best Street Artists

Banksys & Shephard Fairey: 2 Of The Most Influential Street Artists

I’ve chosen to write about 2 of the most influential street artists of our time: 1.) America’s marketing specialist Shepherd Fairey, creator of the famous Obama “Hope” poster and 2.) the elusive British graffiti artist, political activist, film director, and painter, Banksy, who turns buildings into priceless works of art. ot to mention Banksy’s documentary movie about street artists, “Exit Through a Gift Shop”shown at Sundance Film Festival and nominated for an Oscar. It was billed as ‘the world’s first street art movie. The film contains exclusive footage of Shephard Fairey & the cagey Banksy. Both artists yearn to inform in a light hearted manner and both artists aim to make people think about what is hap-

pening. Yet, its the knowledge that the information received depends on each individuals perception, that motivates each artist to dig a little deeper. s to what other influences these 2 artist have on the public might be found in other arenas. Just last week, Beyonce seemed to take a leaf from Banksy’s book and surprised the music world by announcing her new album without the ordinary hype of promotion. It’s been a week and its still a topic of discussion.

A

Fairey’s Court case with AP over copyright issues. Fairey was defended pro bono because of the importance of the copyright principles at stake in the case. In a letter to the Judge, his lawyers wrote:



As Judge Hellerstein recognized during the course of the litigation, the issue of the degree to which copyrighted images may be used for the purpose of appropriation art is both important and unsettled. Tr. May 28, 2010, at 13 (“[T]he issue of fair use was an extraordinarily important issue about which expert copyright lawyers differ, and their differences mean a great deal in relationship to our economy and the use of intellectual property.”) In fact, a primary reason we agreed to represent Mr. Fairey pro bono was that...

Similar Essays