A slight defense of Shepard Fairey

Several commentators in recent days have decried the lack of celebration of the falling of the Berlin Wall. Obama has decided to send Clinton to the festivities in Germany instead of going himself. Others have pointed out that to properly celebrate the end of the Eastern Bloc you must explain just what the Eastern Bloc was and why we spent decades fighting it. And to properly celebrate the fall, you have to mention such names as Thatcher, Reagan and Bush I.

Yesterday afternoon, while driving past LACMA museum on Wilshire in West Los Angeles, I noticed about 8 sections of the Wall have been erected across the street from the museum (interestingly, not on the museum grounds at all.)

A little research showed that Los Angeles is actually holding one of the biggest celebrations around. There are the sections of the wall on display, there is a contest to make your own wall graffiti, and they will actually be building a wall across the very-busy Wilshire Boulevard--this to give people a taste of what it was like to have your city and country cut into two.

[ The Independent (UK) ] The Wall Project, the largest commemoration in the US of the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, will be staged in Los Angeles with segments of the real Berlin Wall along Wilshire Boulevard for public viewing, October 17-November 14.

A two-part initiative, ‘The Wall Along Wilshire" part consists of 10 original 11-foot-by-three-foot segments of the Berlin Wall with an original border tower, to be installed on Wilshire Boulevard as an outdoor gallery. These real sections were donated by Berlin resident, Thomas Goerner, who owns the property on which the segments stood.

The other component, "The Wall Across Wilshire," will stretch over one of the busiest streets in LA, near the Los Angeles County Art Museum, blocking traffic.

So what does this have to do with the title of this blog? And who is Shepard Fairy? He's the artist responsible for this:



He's also being sued by AP, because it was one of their pictures that he used as starting point of his picture, and they want some of those juicy royalties.

He's been in the news the last day or two, because he has admitted to lying in his documentation in the lawsuit. Blogs are blasting him as a liar.

However...Shepard Fairey also happens to be the leading artist in the Los Angeles Wall commemorations.

"The Wall Across Wilshire," will stretch over one of the busiest streets in LA, near the Los Angeles County Art Museum, blocking traffic. Panels will be painted by Shepard Fairey, the graphic artist who created the iconic "Hope" poster for Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

So, I'm more than willing to give Fairey quite a pass on this one.