Word: fairey
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Though it has been credited with political statements from anarchy to fascism, Fairey maintains the campaign's neutrality. "The reason Andre works is that it has no agenda," he told the Boston Phoenix in 1995. "All I've tried to do is--like Warhol--make the run of the mill into an icon...
...Fairey's website, obeygiant.com, lays out his mission and philosophical allegiances with surprising simplicity: "The GIANT sticker campaign can be explained as an experiment in Phenomenology. Heidegger describes Phenomenology as 'the process of letting things manifest themselves.'...Because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the product or movie is not obvious...encounters with the sticker provoke thought and possible frustration." Almost as an afterthought, the site notes that "[b]ecause Giant has a Posse has no actual meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their personality and the nature...
...Besides a laudable wrestling career, he also starred in such memorable roles as Fezzik in "The Princess Bride." A man of few words, his size, novelty, and appearance in cult films nevertheless made him a cult figure. The idea of a posse was borrowed from the skateboarding culture Fairey was active in at the time...
Neither of these facts alone, however--neither Andre's iconic status nor the posse's street cred--can account for the symbol's tremendous, explosive success. Paper magazine senior editor Carlo McCormack recently explained to Salon that "[Fairey]'s really tapped into something. People, without even understanding phenomenology, get in on this elaborate joke of putting out this empty signifier...
...result, the phenomenon's success has depended in large part on unreal amounts of dedication from Fairey and company. Fairey himself has spent most of his free time over the past 10 years printing, plastering and running from the law. (This when he's not running a successful graphic design company, BlkMrkt, with clients like Levi's and Sprite...