11月 10 2008
英语阅读 Hope – the image that is already an American classic
《卫报》作者 Laura Barton 介绍一幅在奥巴马竞选过程采用最多，由街头艺术家 Shepard Fairey 创作的海报招贴(组图)。
Hope – the image that is already an American classic
o Laura Barton
o guardian.co.uk, Monday November 10 2008 00.01 GMT
The iconic image of the US presidential election is a screenprint measuring 85x55cm on woven paper showing Barack Obama above the word “HOPE”. Created by street artist Shepard Fairey, it has cropped up across America and, though not officially commissioned by the Obama campaign, on November 5 it hung around Chicago accompanied by the message “Congratulations Chicago’s Own Barack Obama, President-Elect of the United States of America.”
Last week an original screenprint of Hope, and another image from the campaign – a picture of Obama accompanied by the word “Progress”, were auctioned by Bonhams & Butterfields on the west coast of America for $2,700 and $4,800 respectively. The image’s strength lies in its simplicity. Over the past few months it has acquired the kind of instant recognition of Jim Fitzpatrick’s Che Guevara poster, and is surely set to grace T-shirts, coffee mugs and the walls of student bedrooms in the years to come.
Fairey, who often goes only by his last name, is regarded as one of the most influential street artists. Born in South Carolina in 1970, he first gained prominence through his Andre the Giant Has a Posse sticker campaign in 1989 while still studying illustration at the Rhode Island School of Design. Fairey called it an exercise in phenomenology, and the tribute to the pro-wrestler soon morphed into Obey Giant – Andre’s face and the word Obey, an image that has now appeared all over the world. Fairey’s company produces not only political artwork but also album covers, film posters and a clothing line.
Not surprisingly, the “Hope” image has been repeatedly parodied: images of Amy Winehouse alongside the word “Dope”, or Sarah Palin above the word “Nope”. It even made its way to a sign outside a California hairdresser showing an Afro-ed Obama and the slogan “Time For Change – $20 cuts”. “I didn’t predict that it would take off so strongly,” Fairey told CBS News, “[But] if you want to change what’s going on around you, you have to be willing to participate.”
