Shepard Fairey

Heffel Auction House Biography and Notes

Shepard Fairey was born in Charleston, South Carolina and lives and works in Los Angeles. Selected solo exhibitions include Three Decades of Dissent at the Musei in Comune Roma in Italy (2020); Obery Giant: 30 Years of Resistance at the Grenoble Street Art Festival in Grenoble, France (2019). Fairey’s touring solo show Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent has been presented at the Galerie Itinnerance in Paris, France (2019), Stolen Space in London, UK (2019), AS220 in Providence, RI (2019), Over the Influence in Los Angeles (2019), GGA Gallery in Miami, Fl (2019), and Samuel Owen Gallery in Greenwich, Ct (2019). Other select and recent solo exhibitions include Salad Days at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Michigan (2018); Golden Future at Galerie Ernst Hilger in Vienna (2018); Force Majuere at the Moscow Museum of Modern Art (2018), among many others. Fairey is the recipient of several awards including the title of Cesar Chavez Legacy Awards Honoree (2019), an Art Wynwood Tony Goldman Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award (2017), and an Honorary Doctorate from the Pratt Institute (2015). In 2019, Fairey presented his work in a solo exhibition Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent at BAF, along with a twenty-storey mural at 1030 W Georgia Street in Downtown Vancouver. Shepard Fairey is a contemporary street artist, graphic designer, activist, illustrator, skateboard enthusiast, and founder of OBEY Clothing. While attending the Rhode Island School of Design in the early nineties, Fairey executed an impressive street art campaign called “André the Giant has a Posse” which marked his international recognition. Fairey’s poster depicting Barack Obama for his 2008 presidential campaign further garnered Fairey global attention. A Delicate Balance is based on Fairey’s large-scale public art installation suspended between the first and second tier of the Eiffel Tower in Paris in support of the victims of the attacks on November 13, 2015. The mandala-inspired design is composed of images that reflect upon climate change and environmental threats coinciding with the 2015 United Nations Climate Conference. A Delicate Balance is a hand-painted multiple. Please note: Consignor Hammer Price proceeds of this lot will benefit the artist and Burrard Arts Foundation. The Buyer is hereby advised to read fully the Terms and Conditions of Business and Catalogue Terms, including the Together Again | BAF Exhibition and Auction in support of Alumni Artists Sale Notice and Special Terms of Sale, and any Addendum or Erratum specific to the Together Again | BAF Exhibition and Auction.