I am sure most of you have seen this particular poster of President Barack Obama, but have you ever wondered who actually drew it? We see certain images everywhere in our daily lives but we never stop for a moment to ask the roots of those images and where they come from. We are so busy with our daily routine that those images fade into nothingness after a few days.
Here is an interesting artist I would love to introduce to your taste buds. His name is Shepard Fairey. He started his artistic career as a nobody, doing art in the streets of Boston, but slowly became recognized for his work. After the famous poster of President Barak Obama, he became recognized worldwide. Now his paintings can be seem in art galleries in various parts of the country. If you read his autobiography, you can see his fighting spirit is still live and kicking. He maybe recognized as an established artist, but that doesn’t mean he gives into the pressures of the current political climate.
Against all odds, if an artist can voice their opinion against oppression and injustices, then s(he) has my respect…
Above is an amazing poster done by him depicting a Palestinian women looking through the wails of oppression. A picture tells a million words!
On a personal note, I want to see such artists in Turkey, portraying the suffering of the indigenous Kurds. Separate from the atrocities committed by the terrorist group PKK, separate from the political voices of the establishment everywhere, separate from the hate mongers, separate from the political bias on all sides....
Just simply depicting human suffering. After all, pain is universal!
3 Comments:
It is my observation that creativity and intelligence overall are under-appreciated in Turkey. The kind of artistic expression mentioned in your blog is especially unwelcome by the establishment. The mission of the State here is only to protect and propagate the machinery of the State. More and more, around the world you can see governments maintaining control over the masses by suppressing dissent and flooding media with entertainment without art and without any message. Effect? People on the street can tell you who they would vote for on Pop Idol but can not remember who they voted for in the last election. :)
Nomad, you make a good point!
If you live or come anywhere near Boston, I highly recommend coming to Fairey's amazing show at the Institute of Contemporary Art. I love this gallery as it is on the Boston ocean front, which we Bostonians rarely get to see. The building itself is a gorgeous piece of art. But Fairey's work is also simply amazing! As a side note, the artist actually got arrested on opening night as he is a well-known graffiti artist, and has plastered many stickers and posters all over Boston questioning the establishment. Now that I know what to look for, I see them all the time... but before, they were completely under my radar.
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