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Shepard Fairey's Arrest Begs Question: Art or Vandalism?

How Shepard Fairey's arrest provides a new look at an old question: Is it art or is it vandalism?

By DEBORAH VANKIN AND DAVID NG (LA Times)

Shepard Fairey has never been one to play by the rules — and that's par for the course for someone in a street art community that exists on the cultural margins.

Or does it?

The L.A.-based street artist and graphic designer, best known for his 2008 "Hope" poster timed with Barack Obama's presidential campaign as well as the "Obey" image seen on posters and T-shirts worldwide, was arrested last week while passing through customs at Los Angeles International Airport. Authorities there noticed that Detroit police had issued a warrant last month related to two counts of malicious destruction of property.

Fairey, 45, had been accused of putting up posters, without permission, on private and government property in Detroit. But once he was in custody in L.A., Detroit police backed off: They declined to extradite the artist.

"In terms of graffiti, it's not as high as a murder or rape or something," Detroit police Officer Dan Donakowski said Monday, a day before Fairey surrendered to Detroit police and was quickly arraigned and released.

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Historical Item

Legal Information

News Articles

SF artist's Pride show squashed

SF artist's Pride show squashed by foundation, due to assault claims
By Chris Roberts @cbloggy (Examiner)

Street artist Jeremy Novy is no stranger to controversy.

Before he won commissions to put his signature stencils of koi fish on public and private property in The City, his art — pasted on sidewalks and buildings — sometimes broke the law.

Starting Monday, Novy — a rare LGBT street artist in the hetero-dominated world of taggers and stencilists — was supposed to have a monthlong gay culture-themed show in the Castro.

Called “PHONE SEX = SAFE SEX,” the show was to run throughout Pride Month at Magnet, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation-run sexual health clinic in The Castro.

That’s all over now.

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4 June Stephane Moscato - Little Fingers (UK)

Opening this THURSDAY at the Pure Evil Gallery we're going to be showing artwork by

Stéphane Moscato - STF

STF little fingers

Stéphane Moscato aka STF has been archiving the living memory of the city of Marseille for ten years.

Peeling off layers and years of illegal posters, he uses the typography and patterns he finds on them as a guide. This 'rip it up and start again' punk rock culture enthusiast first applies the stencil back to front by pressing, then uses black paint to draw the outlines of the design. Giving a modern touch to the approach of Villeglé, Stéphane calls attention to his obsession with the human body, each time telling a different story with a different mythology and an ambiguous interpretation of his work.

We are very excited and a bit proud to be presenting his first UK Solo at Pure Evil Gallery on June 04 ...

Pure Evil Gallery , 108 Leonard st, London EC2A 4XS

Gallery Hours: 10am - 6pm daily  or by appointment.

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In the Galleries

On the midnight prowl with one of S.F.’s hottest street artists

By Ryan Kost (SF Chronicle)
June 1, 2015

The street artist known as fnnch stands at the corner of Capp and 19th. It’s just started to rain, the sort of rain you can feel but you can’t see unless you catch it in a car’s headlights. He’s staring at a postbox just across the way, freshly painted, a blank canvas. “I really want to hit this box.”

But there are people near it, drunken and rowdy people, people who holler at the woman pacing in front of the corner store. “I got a dollar for you, baby. What’s up?”

Fnnch keeps watching them, and then, after a few minutes, he starts walking. “I don’t think they’re going to care,” he says. “There’s only one rule: Let me know if a cop is coming. Like, nothing else really matters.”

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Artist Interview

News Articles

Woman convicted for posting street art on Instagram

Here is an update from a 2013 post about the arrest:

Woman Found Guilty of Criminal Harassment for Instagramming Street Art
by Benjamin Sutton on May 18, 2015 for Hyperallergic

Jennifer Pawluck, the Montrealer who was arrested in 2013 for posting a photo of a piece of street art on Instagram, has been convicted of criminal harassment and, on Thursday, was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and 18 months probation. Her community service must be completed within a year.

The 22-year-old college student has also been forbidden from posting any public messages on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, and must restrict her use of the social media platforms to private communications for the next year, according to the Montreal Gazette. She had faced maximum penalties of up to six months in jail and a fine of $5,000.

Reached via Facebook, Pawluck told Hyperallergic: “I am unfortunately not responding to any media questions … following my sentencing I’d prefer to keep a very low profile.”

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Legal Information

Famous poster spot to get a parklet (SF, CA)

Bruce Tomb has been a long-time supporter of street art, mostly via postering, along the ever-changing Valencia Street corridor. On the wall of a former police station, the (de)Appropriation Project has been a vibrant source of stencils, posters, and political and personal expression. I have heavily documented it over the years, putting some photos in Stencil Nation and labelling my photos with "dap" when I put them here on the Stencil Archive. Tomb's wall is a special wall: legal, unedited (unless you don't like the commercials ads that sometimes get put up on there), encouraged, and community-supported. As waves of change hit the Mission District, knowing that there is a solid spot to paste up on and enjoy is a beautiful thing.

Now Tomb is deepening the location's committement to pubilc expression with a new and interactive parklet. Here is some info about the new parklet from Tomb's blog:

This parklet is distinct in that it is also a public art work sited in front of the (de)Appropriation Project. The parklet will take the form of a sidewalk “bulb-out” and two speakers’ podiums. The laser cut step plate for the podiums will also act as signage for the project as required by the Planning Department and the expanded steel mesh will be welded into the form of the podiums. This mesh is the same as what was used to fortify the former police Mission Police Station in 1970, protecting it from the community it served. That mesh has been repurposed and now is the front gate to our building. The custom formed curb will be stained to match the repurposed steel decking from another parklet in the neighborhood that was removed last year.