Shepard Fairey Not Cool With Irony

The street artist famous for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" and "Obey Giant" street campaigns and the ubiquitous Obama "Hope" poster wrote a searing response to a rather innocuous news story posted last week on an extremely boring Los Angeles neighborhood site called The Eastsider. The post, titled “This is one Wall Shepard Fairey Wants Free of Self-Expression,” details how the artist recently applied a coat of anti-graffiti solution to the wall of his gallery and ad agency, Studio Number One (creators of our Politics Issue cover). Fairey wrote in to the boring neighborhood site, obviously enraged:

"Our building houses a fucking gallery and we show street artist’s work there and on banners on the side of the building. For you to portray me as anti-street art is very revealing about YOU and YOUR agenda. Are you pro-street art or graffiti? If the answer is yes, then I’d assume based on your portrayal of me, that you’d welcome graffiti on your house or business lest you be revealed to be an anti-art hypocrite. If you have any integrity you will post my response along with your home and office address as an invitation for people to display their art there. Your attempt to portray me as hypocrite was thinly veiled incitement for people to tag our building.”

I can’t say I’m surprised about Fairey’s Not-On-My-Building rant. Afterall he did design a "Norman Fell Has a Posse" Heeb tee inspired by the strictest landlord/building owner of them all, Three’s Company‘s Mr. Roper.

What do you think?