Shephard Fairey's street cred

Shephard Fairey a sell out? I don't think so.

Nylon Magazine interviews the man behind the hot-as-shit Obama Change poster and gets him talking about the street.

[NM] You started on a grass roots level, stenciling, screenprinting… Do you think young artists today are focusing too much on commercial galleries and have their eye on fame?

[SF] There is a purity that is punk rock that I love about street art. But what I don’t like about what’s happening is the recent phenomena of street artists wanting to transition into the gallery really quickly. And I think that is catalyzed by the Internet; it is really easy to manipulate perception if you are shrewd about how you present yourself on the Internet. That bums me out because a lot of the time I liked people’s stuff, but I just as much liked their spirit, their tenacity. Like Neck Face—first of all he’s my friend—did a shitload on the street before he made his transition into the gallery in a rapid amount of time. It took me like five-six years before I got a gallery show and 10 years before I was making any money. I’m 38 years old, I have two kids, I run a design business, a magazine, a gallery, a clothing line, and my fine art career…and I still go out on the street more than people who have nothing on their plate at all. The street is important to me.

Read the full interview.

Fairey's street stuff gets around. I spotted an "Andre the Giant has a posse" sticker in the Shimokitazawa neighborhood in Tokyo.