Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina) is a contemporary artist/graphic designer/illustrator, who emerged from the skating scene. He usually goes under his middle and last name, Shepard Fairey. He is known for the creation of the “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker campaign, which he created while attending the Rhode Island School of Design (Risd) in 1989. The “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker campaign later evolved into the “Obey Giant” campaign. The “Obey Giant” campaign has grown via an international network of collaborators replicating Fairey’s original designs. The campaign has become, in Fairey’s words, an “experiment in phenomenology.” His “Obey” Campaign draws from the John Carpenter movie “They Live” which starred Rowdy Roddy Piper, taking a number of slogans, including the “Obey” slogan, as well as the “This is Your God” slogan.
He graduated from Risd in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts in Illustration, and currently resides in Los Angeles, California. He uses the slogan “The Medium is the Message” borrowed from Marshall McLuhan.
In 2003 he founded the Studio Number One design agency. The agency produced the cover work for the Black Eyed Peas’s albums Elephunk and Monkey Business and the poster for the film Walk the Line. Fairey has also designed the cover work for The Smashing Pumpkins album Zeitgeis.
