You are bidding for : " Takeover " by OBEY & COPE2 Screen Print 60 x 45 cm Edition of 300 July 25, 2013 About : OBEY ( Shepard” Fairey ) A leader of the Street Art movement, American artist Frank “Shepard” Fairey came of age immersed in skateboarding culture. He studied at the Rhode School of Design, first reaching notoriety with his image of wrestler Andre the Giant. In 2008, his fame was cemented with the now iconic 2008 ‘Hope’ poster for Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. Fairey takes inspiration from not only art history, but political propaganda, advertising, graffiti, skateboarding culture, graphic design and album covers. His practice spans streetwear, printmaking, stickers, murals and painting, united by a compelling visual language and urge to democratise art. By turning familiar icons askew, Fairey encourages the viewer to question systems, their surroundings and assumptions. An activist and the man behind streetwear brand OBEY, Fairey’s work is represented in the collections of the Smithosonian, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. COPE2 is one of the most notorious bombers in New York City and the five boroughs. I first stumbled upon his work in the early 90’s. From the Bronx to downtown to Brooklyn he had pieces everywhere. The two color, very stylish bubble letter throw ups reading COPE, were just everywhere. The guy was definitely one of the most prolific bombers I’ve ever seen, and I’ve spent a lot of time in New York City. Especially in the 90’s, COPE was everywhere. I found out later on that he had actually been out bombing since the early 80’s, starting very young. Some of the stuff I saw in the early 90’s had maybe been around three, five, eight, even ten years, who knows-¦ but he just stayed at it. He was incredibly tenacious and had built up a huge amount of work around the city. Of course graffiti is ephemeral, but back then New York wasn’t cleaned as fast, so his stuff was accumulating. I didn’t meet him, I just knew him through his work, and I just thought for traditional graffiti this guy has one of the best styles. Of course, success in graffiti is measured by volume and he was one of the most , if not the most, up of anyone in New York City. 36 x 24 inches. Offset lithograph on cream Speckle Tone paper. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Open edition.