Click to play videoLos Angeles: On one hand it makes perfect sense that Shepard Fairey was chosen to create the official Obama inauguration poster, after all he is the artist behind the most famous image of the president-elect that became synonymous with the Barack Obama campaign.
On the other hand, picking Fairey could be seen as controversial. Fairey is a 'street art' legend. If you live in an urban area, chances are that you have seen his work, and there's a good chance it was put up illegally.
By his own account Fairey has been arrested more than a dozen times. Go to popular video sharing website youtube and you can find videos of him in action.
So how did this poster maker get hooked up with Obama? He says he contacted the campaign, they gave him an unofficial go-ahead to submit work and he came up with the hope poster, which became an instant hit. After that he made 'change', and then 'vote'.
“I received a letter from Barack Obama thanking me only a month after creating the hope poster, saying thank you for lending your artistic support to my campaign,” Fairey said.
Fairey is adding his Obama art to the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery. Meanwhile, Time magazine commissioned Fairey to create its person of the year cover.
“A lot of people feel like they are spectators in a democracy that's for big business and power brokers and that's just not the case. This proves that's not the case,” Fairey said.
Fairey's latest work, the inauguration poster, will be featured at several official inaugural events, and who knows, it may end up on a few street corners as well.
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