Every voter has seen the image: Barack Obama deconstructed into red, white, and blue with the words ‘Hope’ flashing below. The artist behind this iconic picture, Shepard Fairey, has hit some rough times this February, however.
It began with the Associated Press demanding money for the red, white and blue stencil of President Obama. The AP said in a statement that the ‘Hope’ poster was copied from a photo taken in April 2006 by AP freelance photographer, Mannie Garicia, a temporary employee who was at the time on assignment for the AP.
The AP insists that Fairey did not have permission to use the image for the poster, and is now looking for credit and compensation from Fairey. He has acknowledged that he based the design on Mannie Garicia’s photograph, which he found after a Google search, yet he denies any copyright infringement.
In a preemptive strike against the AP, Fairey filed suit last Monday in the United States District Court in New York. Fairey and his lawyer are looking for a ruling that Fairey’s artwork did not breach the rights of the AP and is justified under the Fair Use Doctrine, which allows limited use of copyrighted materials for purposes like criticism or comment.
Anthony T. Falzone, Fairey’s lawyer, said that Fairey only referenced the photo and then created a ‘stunning, abstracted and idealized visual image that created powerful new meaning and conveys a radically different message.’
In conjunction, Fairey is also seeking a judgment that will prohibit the AP from claiming copyrights on his company, Obey Giant, or anyone in possession of the ‘Hope’ poster or any art resulting from it.
Fairey, 38, has in recent years gained notoriety as a forerunner in guerilla style graffiti art. Currently, the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston is honoring him with a retrospective of his artwork.
In an ironic turn of events, as Fairey made his way to the opening of his show, he was arrested for an outstanding public graffiti warrant. Boston police arrested him on the spot and then released him a few hours later.
Fairey has been arrested numerous times for displaying his drawings on buildings and other private property, and his tenacity has never died.
This arrest, though, surprised him. Fairey had no idea there was a warrant for his arrest. Fairey’s attorney, Jeffery Wiesner, said that if’ Fairey had knowledge of the warrant the issue would have been resolved long ago.
Indeed this February had brought Fairey a troublesome number of surprises: the arrest, the lawsuit.
But if history tells us anything, this artist will make his way through it.
As a result, we will probably see more of Fairey and his artwork in the future or on the building fronts of downtown Boston.
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