Shepard Fairey: Obama ‘Hope’ poster artist condemns ‘cancel culture’ as many are ‘fearful about having opinion’

Published

1 year ago

February 18, 2023

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Street art might have a reputation for being provocative and political but in the age of social media take-downs is the movement itself now starting to question what it can and can’t say?

According to world-famous street artist Shepard Fairey, “cancel culture is a problem”.

Speaking to Sky News, the activist and artist said: “I think a lot of people are fearful about having an opinion in their work that others might disagree with.

“Cancel culture is a problem in that people become fearful about what topics they think they are allowed to address and in what ways.”

Having flown in for the opening of Beyond The Streets London – billed as the most comprehensive graffiti & street art exhibition to open in the UK – Fairey’s work features heavily in the three storey take-over of the Saatchi Gallery alongside over 100 other artists, including Keith Haring and the Beastie Boys.

Perhaps best-known for his iconic 2008 Obama “Hope” poster, Fairey’s work has frequently incorporated imagery of important figures of our time – including the likes of Bob Marley and Martin Luther King.

“I have always made a lot of portraits of not just white people,” the American artist explains. “My point was that, you know, we’re all humans who deserve to be treated with dignity and representation matters… but there have been some people that have said to me ‘you’re a white person, you shouldn’t paint anything other than white people’.

“And I say, there’s a way to look at that as actually really narrow minded and exclusionary. Other people say ‘you’re exploiting someone else’s culture by trying to represent it through your work’ but I say, you know, this is all about a dialogue.

“If the art brings up a conversation that I think is constructive about who gets the spotlight and is allowed to talk about what issue, I’m fine to be part of that, but if the idea is that I need to not say anything because I’m a straight white male, I’m not going to listen to that.”

Today street art is a commercial juggernaut, shared on social media, courted by fashion houses – accessible, relatable and at its best subversive.

But as a movement that sets out to stick two fingers up to the establishment, its commercialisation can seem at odds with what street art stands for.

“The whole idea of, of selling out would be compromising your principles to pander to the lowest common denominator,” Fairey insists. “I don’t like to think about these narrow minded categories. I want to reach the bourgeois and rock the boulevard.

“Street is where I did a lot of my early work because I had no other opportunities and I still work on the street, it’s a very important thing to me philosophically, but to me, it’s all about creative problem solving and hitting different audiences and as many different people as possible.”

Fairey says his commercial work gives him the freedom to make free works like murals and fund his activism.

“I like the do-it-yourself empowerment model and that requires figuring out how to make it successful in the capitalist world we live in without hopefully being corrupted by the bad forces within capitalism. I’m trying to navigate that very thoughtfully and be, you know, conscious within capitalism.”

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A provocateur and proud, he’d like more artists to use their work to make a stand.

“Just look around, if the world looks exactly how you want it to look then then fine, make decorative stuff. If it doesn’t, maybe try to say something.”

Beyond The Streets London runs until 9 May at the Saatchi Gallery.

Entertainment

Tom Brady vows to be ‘better parent’ after Netflix roast tore into divorce

Published

15 hours ago

May 16, 2024

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Tom Brady vows to be 'better parent' after Netflix roast tore into divorce

Tom Brady has promised to be “a better parent” after a Netflix comedy special poked fun at his divorce.

The seven-time Super Bowl champion appeared on The Roast Of Tom Brady, where comedians like Kevin Hart tore into his split from Gisele Bundchen in 2022 after 13 years.

While the 46-year-old said he “loved when the jokes were about me,” Brady told The Pivot Podcast that he “didn’t like the way it affected my kids”.

“It’s the hardest part about, like the bittersweet aspect of when you do something that you think is one way and then all of a sudden you realise ‘I wouldn’t do that again’ because of the way that it affected, actually, the people I care about the most in the world,” he said.

“It makes you, in some ways, a better parent going through it ’cause again sometimes you are naive. You don’t know, or you get a little like, ‘oh shit’.”

Brady has two children – Benjamin, 14, and Vivian, 11 – with Bundchen. He also is a father to a third child, 16-year-old John, with actress Bridget Moynahan, who he dated until 2006.

‘Single life is what you deserve’

Hart, who hosted the Netflix special, kicked off proceedings by referencing their split, saying: “Single life is what you deserve because you had no choice.

“Gisele gave you an ultimatum. Gisele said ‘you retire or we’re done’. That’s what she said to you, Tom. ‘You retire, or we’re done’.

“Let me tell you something. When you got a chance to go eight, nine, and all it will cost is your wife and your kids, you gotta do what the f*** you gotta do.”

Nikki Glaser also fired jabs at Brady’s divorce, saying: “Five-time Super Bowl MVP, most career wins, most career touchdowns.

“You have seven rings. Well, eight, now that Gisele gave hers back.”

‘Roast taught me a good lesson’

Brady also told the podcast that as a parent, “you just don’t see the full picture all the time,” and added the roast taught him “a good lesson”.

“I’m going to be a better parent as I go forward because of it,” he added. “And at the same time, I’m happy everyone who was there had a lot of fun.”

Speaking on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, David Beckham shared he texted Brady to check on him after the roast aired, saying: “I know Tom well and I must admit, I did fire him a message just to check if he was okay.

“He’s more than okay, but yeah, it was hard to watch.”

Brady, who is widely regarded as the greatest quarterback ever, played 20 regular seasons with the New England Patriots and three regular seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, during which he won the Super Bowl seven times and was a three-time runner up.

Entertainment

Stars say Kevin Spacey should return to acting after ‘seven years of exile’

Published

1 day ago

May 16, 2024

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Stars say Kevin Spacey should return to acting after 'seven years of exile'

Hollywood stars have begun campaigning for Kevin Spacey to resume his acting career “after seven years of exile”.

Sharon Stone, Liam Neeson and Stephen Fry are among the names speaking up for the Oscar-winner following the release of a Channel 4 documentary levelling fresh allegations against 64-year-old Spacey, which he denies.

The Oscar-winning actor was one of Hollywood’s biggest names when allegations of sexual misconduct were made in 2017, leading Netflix to cut all ties with him at the height of his House of Cards fame.

Despite being acquitted of numerous sexual offences after a trial in London, and winning a US civil lawsuit in which he was accused of making an unwanted sexual advance, Spacey said he still feels ostracised from the industry.

Basic Instinct star Stone told the Telegraph: “I can’t wait to see Kevin back at work. He is a genius. He is so elegant and fun, generous to a fault, and knows more about our craft than most of us ever will.”

The 66-year-old said it was clear aspiring actors had “wanted and want to be around him”.

She added: “It’s terrible that they are blaming him for not being able to come to terms with themselves for using him and negotiating with themselves because they didn’t get their secret agendas.”

Taken and Star Wars actor Neeson, 71, told the paper: “Kevin is a good man and a man of character. Personally speaking, our industry needs him and misses him greatly.”

British actor and writer Fry said Spacey had been both “clumsy and inappropriate” on many occasions, but to “devote a whole documentary to accusations that simply do not add up to crimes… how can that be considered proportionate and justified?”

The 66-year-old said Spacey’s reputation had been “wrecked”, adding: “Surely it is wrong to continue to batter a reputation on the strength of assertion and rhetoric rather than evidence and proof?

“Unless I’m missing something, I think he has paid the price.”

A spokesperson for Channel 4 said: “Spacey Unmasked is an important film exploring the balance of power and inappropriate behaviour in a work environment, aiming to give a voice to those who have previously been unable to speak out.”

Spacey won two Academy Awards as best supporting actor for The Usual Suspects in 1996 and best actor in 2000 for American Beauty, which also scored him a BAFTA for leading actor.

Last year, Spacey was found not guilty by a jury of nine sexual offences alleged by four men between 2001 and 2013 after a trial in London.

He also won a US civil lawsuit in October 2022, after being accused of an unwanted sexual advance at a party in 1986.

Spacey says he has struggled to get work despite his acquittals, branding his experience a “life sentence”.

Entertainment

Rust weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez appeals against conviction over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set

Published

2 days ago

May 15, 2024

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Rust weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez appeals against conviction over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set

The weapons supervisor for the Western film Rust is appealing against her conviction for involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on set, according to court documents.

Hannah Gutierrez was jailed in April after being found guilty by jurors following a trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the US.

She was in charge of weapons during the production of the film in October 2021, when a Colt 45 revolver fired by actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died, while director Joel Souza was injured.

A defence lawyer for Gutierrez, who is serving an 18-month sentence at a prison for women in New Mexico, filed a shortly worded appeal notice on Monday.

Her legal team has 30 days to submit detailed arguments. They previously requested a new trial following the verdict.

Gutierrez’s trial was told she unwittingly brought live ammunition to the set, where it was expressly prohibited, and failed to follow basic gun safety protocols.

During her sentencing hearing, she told the court she had tried to do her best while working on the production, despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing”.

Alec Baldwin case latest

Baldwin, who was a producer for the film as well as its star, has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

He maintains he pulled back the gun’s hammer – but not the trigger – before it fired, and is set to face trial in July. He denies any wrongdoing.

The 66-year-old was originally charged in January 2023, more than a year after the shooting, but those charges were dropped a few months later. He was charged again in January this year.

His legal team has filed a motion calling for the charges to be dropped. Prosecutors responded with a 32-page document claiming that footage of the star on set shows he had “absolutely no control of his own emotions” and “no concern for how his conduct” affected those around him.

Assistant director David Halls, who also faced charges, entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon last year, receiving a six-month suspended sentence.

Filming of Rust resumed last year in Montana – with Baldwin reprising his role as the main character – after an agreement made Ms Hutchins’s widower an executive producer.