Shepard Fairey the artist behind Obey Giant movement was arrested while postering in Denver with other 154 people last week, most of whom were involved in protests of one sort or another.

He was in Denver as part of the Manifest Hope gallery show featuring art inspired by Barack Obama.

On August 25, Fairey took a break from installing the gallery show to hang posters around downtown Denver, wheat-pasting them to the sides of buildings. Denver artist Scot Lefavor and a small crew of filmmakers making a documentary on Fairey went along. But when they got to an alleyway near 16th Avenue and Sherman Street around midnight, they saw a line of officers in full riot gear running toward them.

When they were arrested, Shepard quotes the police:

“Get on the fucking ground or we’re going to kick you in the fucking head!”

Cool video interview below.

And oh, it’s the fourteenth of such arrest for this brilliant man. He truly believe in Hope!

Via

Produced by Sidetrack Films, Beautiful Losers is an intimate and moving assessment of underappreciated yet wildly influential outcasts such as Shepard Fairey, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, Barry McGee, Jo Jackson, Chris Johanson, Harmony Korine, Stephen Powers, Geoff McFetridge, Thomas Campbell and Ed Templeton. Informed by their individual experiences and the generation’s “Do It Yourself” culture, these artists left an indelible mark on the worlds of fashion, music, literature, film and ironically, sports. The story of Beautiful Losers is a retrospective celebration of their contribution to artistic independence.

The film has screened at SXSW which i didn’t go, and it’s now is on tour across US. From the people from film’s YouTube Channel, people can expect that this film will be out in theaters across America this summer and out on dvd by the end of the year.

Oh yeah, if i don’t find the chance to go to the states, i’ll be happy to wait for the DVD. You can learn more on the film at the official website and below is the trailer.

Via: Juxtapoz.

In honor of Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to New York City, Michael Ian Weinfeld has created POPE, an imitation of Shepard Fairey’s Obama Hope poster (or Shepard’s involvement in Hope Artists? or both?) Or whatever. I like it so much.

Got this via Laughing Squid. You can get the poster at Animal New York.

Given my wife known about this, and she said, “If you go somewhere else that you can find ‘these things’, i’ll be your insulting accountant!” Oh i know she will .

I was simply surprised to see George Orwell’s 1984 released and translated into Indonesian but i had no doubt to buy and read it. I guess it was released in mid 2003 or so here in Indo. The cover is bad compare to original English version and even worse compare to the redesign done by artist Shepard Fairey a.k.a. Obey.

Below is the cover in Indonesian released so you can see.

However, this latest move from Penguin Books is pretty clever, as if kids see the book designed by an artist who design Obey Clothing, will probably bring them more into reading, eventhough, i don’t think kids under 18 should read 1984 anyways. The other Orwell’s book which get redesigned is Animal Farm. But i haven’t read it so i don’t have anything to say. Below is the redesign cover, pretty cool.

As a side note on this. I once recommend and bought another copy of the novel as a gift to my friend that is in the middle of lyric writing session then a social professor mention him as a cool underground musician dude who read 1984 and gets all the credit at a national paper (lol but it’s ok!). Somehow, i have put an online review in my other music blog here (in Indonesian Language) which was originally released as an underground zine published for my underground music company in mid 2003.

Get this via Juxtapoz, more information at The Penguin Blog.