Shepard Fairey
He transformed a simple sticker of a wrestler into the OBEY street art empire, merging punk ethos with political dissent and graphic design.
Born 1970 (age 56)·American street artist and activist·Birthday: February 15·Generation X
Biography
Shepard Fairey's journey from a skate-obsessed kid in Charleston to a defining force in street art began with a joke. As a student at the Rhode Island School of Design, he created the 'Andre the Giant Has a Posse' sticker, a cryptic inside gag that snowballed into a global street campaign and the birth of the OBEY brand. Fairey's work is a deliberate collision of commercial art techniques and subversive messaging, drawing heavily from propaganda posters and punk rock album covers. His trajectory into the mainstream was sealed in 2008 with the iconic 'Hope' poster for Barack Obama's presidential campaign, an image that became a visual shorthand for a political moment while also sparking complex debates about art, appropriation, and power. Fairey operates in the contested space between vandal and visionary, using public walls and gallery spaces alike to challenge corporate authority and social injustice, all while building a clothing line that makes his aesthetic wearable.
Generation X
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Shepard was born in 1970, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Shepard Was Born
The biggest hits of 1970
#1 Movie
Love Story
Best Picture
Patton
#1 TV Show
Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
Shepard's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1970Born
First Earth Day; The Beatles break up
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $17,000Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Bridge over Troubled Water" — Simon & GarfunkelBest Picture: Patton
1975Started school
Fall of Saigon ends the Vietnam War
Gas: $0.57/galHome: $27,600Min wage: $2.10/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Love Will Keep Us Together" — Captain & TennilleBest Picture: One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
1983Became a teenager
Internet adopts TCP/IP, creating the modern internet
Gas: $1.16/galHome: $57,700Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Every Breath You Take" — The PoliceBest Picture: Terms of Endearment
1986Could drive
Challenger disaster; Chernobyl nuclear meltdown
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $66,600Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"That's What Friends Are For" — Dionne & FriendsBest Picture: Platoon
1988Could vote
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1991Turned 21
Soviet Union dissolves; World Wide Web goes public
Gas: $1.14/galHome: $82,400Min wage: $4.25/hrPresident: George H.W. Bush"(Everything I Do) I Do It for You" — Bryan AdamsBest Picture: The Silence of the Lambs
2000Turned 30
Y2K passes without incident; contested Bush-Gore election
Gas: $1.51/galHome: $119,600Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Breathe" — Faith HillBest Picture: Gladiator
2010Turned 40
Deepwater Horizon oil spill; iPad launched
Gas: $2.79/galHome: $147,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Barack Obama"Tik Tok" — KeshaBest Picture: The King's Speech
2020Turned 50
COVID-19 pandemic shuts down the world
Gas: $2.17/galHome: $248,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Blinding Lights" — The WeekndBest Picture: Nomadland
2026Age 56 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Created the internationally recognized 'Andre the Giant Has a Posse' (OBEY) street art campaign in 1989.
- Designed the iconic 'Hope' portrait for Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.
- Founded the clothing and lifestyle brand OBEY Clothing, which grew from the sticker campaign.
- Had a major solo exhibition, 'Supply and Demand', at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 2009.
Did You Know?
He was arrested in Denver in 2009 while stenciling a wall for a documentary about his own arrest.
His work is in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
He designed album covers for bands like The Smashing Pumpkins and Led Zeppelin's reissues.
The original Andre the Giant sticker was inspired by a newspaper ad for wrestling training.
“The real message of OBEY is to question everything.”
