Shepard Fairey: Obama ‘Hope’ poster artist condemns ‘cancel culture’ as many are ‘fearful about having opinion’
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.
Fairey is perhaps best known for his 2008 Obama ‘Hope’ poster
“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.
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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.
Shephard Fairey’s street art is known around the world
“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
‘I’m shocked at how fragile I am still’: Cumberbatch and Colman on protecting their sanity from perils of social media
Actor Benedict Cumberbatch says he’s shocked at how “fragile” he still is – despite years in the spotlight and success in the industry.
It might seem like the Doctor Strange star and The Crown actress Olivia Colman have it all when it comes to money and success – but they are also human like the rest of us.
The pair lead the cast of new satirical black comedy The Roses, which sees picture-perfect couple Ivy and Theo Rose – a rising star chef and ambitious architect – raise their two children in California, while chasing their own dreams.
‘I am shocked at how fragile I am’
But behind its dark humour and comic language, the film also looks at the realities of power imbalance, insecurity and wounded pride – in even the strongest of relationships.
And 49-year-old Cumberbatch – whose character faces a major setback in his career – tells Sky News that in real life the glare of social media only intensifies those type of situations.
“I am shocked at how fragile I am still.
“I don’t go anywhere near it [social media] because of that.
“It’s like walking into a place where people want to marry you or kill you. Those extremes.
“I think we will get to a stage, a corporate culture that’s now manifested around it where people are obliged to do that in order to sell their lives, and therefore their brand and what they do for a living.”
Co-star Colman – who’s long-shunned the online world – agrees.
Cumberbatch and Colman in The Roses. Pic: Jaap Buitendijk/ Searchlight Pictures
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“I’m afraid I am very thin-skinned.
“I don’t look at any of it. My husband will look at a review and if it’s nice he’ll show me – but if it’s anything mean he knows to just go ‘don’t look – don’t look.’
“You just have to learn to be thicker-skinned.
“But actually, I think we need people who are sensitive and kind.”
‘Don’t do it… delete it all’
Colman – now 51, and whose leading role in The Favourite bagged her an Academy Award in 2019 – says no amount of experience and success can shield her from criticism.
“My advice to a young’un – sort of dipping their toe into the world of social media for the first time is absolutely don’t do it.
“Delete it all. If you want a happy life, don’t have any of it. I’ve never had it.”
The movie – directed by Meet The Parents’ Jay Roach with The Favourite screenwriter Tony McNamara – also calls into question the notion of success – asking, is it really possible to have it all?
Or is sacrifice inevitable when it comes to spinning the plates of a high-flying career, marriage and parenthood?
Cumberbatch admits “you can’t do it all without there being a cost”.
“You just have to weigh up what those balances are,” he adds.
Colman says “there are I suppose little sacrifices along the way” – from both sides of a relationship.
The comedy drama offers a fresh take on Warren Adler’s novel The War Of The Roses – and the 1989 hit film adaptation- starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner.
Colman and Cumberbatch – both producers on the film – insist they weren’t daunted by that though.
“We wanted to find a project to do together, and we have utter respect for the iconic status of the film and book,” explains Cumberbatch.
“Hopefully this will have its own place in the culture – it’s very different, it’s not a remake – it’s a reimagined jumping-on point.”
“But beyond that, it’s very different,” adds Colman.
Former Doctor Who Ncuti Gatwa and Barbie’s Kate McKinnon also form the cast.
The Roses is out in UK cinemas now.
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