Johnie’s Coffee Shop in L.A., with Obey Giant poster. Photo by S:U:P:E:R:M:O:D.
This morning I linked to a story on Animal New York regarding a cease and desist letter that Shepard Fairey’s studio had reportedly sent to a Texas artist that allegedly infringed on his trademark Obey Giant image. A comment on the blog (and plenty of whispering on the Internet) have intimated that the story of a cease and desist letter is untrue. That is not the case. Fairey did send a letter to the artist in question. This is the statement he just released on the subject:
To all concerned:
Baxter Orr was sent a cease and desist letter by Obey Giant in regards to his use of the Obey “Icon Face” graphic. This graphic is a registered trademark and I selectively enforce this trademark based on the nature of the infringement. Frequently I do not respond negatively to parodies of Obey because I feel the artist doing the parody is philosophically aligned with Obey and parody is a valid part of pop culture dialog. I use parody and tribute often in my own work, so I obviously believe there is value to both. I have also had to deal with legal entanglements over the use of appropriated imagery and its interpretation as parody or infringement. Parody Vs. infringement is obviously an issue with many subtleties and grey areas. Referencing existing imagery is a risk every pop artist takes from Warhol to Koons to myself to Mr. Orr. Most of my pop art, fortunately, has been positively received by those being referenced, and many subjects have even commissioned authorized collaborations after seeing my tribute. Orr’s infringement is being pursued more because of his all around exploitative tendencies and foul nature rather than the seriousness of this specific infringement. I’m generally very tolerant of this sort of thing, but this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Orr has been repeatedly revealed for selling Obey Giant prints on ebay which I have a policy against. I sell my prints under market value to insure that true fans of my work can acquire a print at a reasonable price. Orr has used pseudonyms and other shady tactics to get prints and sell them on ebay. Orr has been kicked off of an Obey Giant fan site for shady dealings. He has also made enemies with an Obey secondary market dealer for being untrustworthy. Orr is the type of bottom feeder who is often able to thrive because no one wants to take the time to deal with him. As you can see, he has tried to turn this present issue into publicity for himself. The resources it may require for me to pursue him will be much greater than any lost revenue from his print. I’m pursuing this out of principal. I have principals and Orr does not. A gross over-simplification of the situation could lead a lazy person to think that I’m a hypocrite for pursuing Orr because, in basic terms, we both use reinterpreted appropriated imagery. The key difference is in our motivations and my willingness to take responsibility for the things I do.
Shepard Fairey
Founder & Creative
Studio Number One
Posted by C-Monster.
obey shepard or else fool!
libel?
I stand corrected, thanks.
no worries… that’s why i e-mailed his studio to find out if this was true…
I’m so surprised how many street art conspiracy theorists there are out there. Not for nothing, but ANIMAL has never gotten a story wrong, why would we start with a story this important? But glad everyone did their due diligence, this way I don’t have to deal with the bullshit the next time I drop a story, laf.
Wow it’s a straight line. Warhol, Koons, Shepard. Cute!
Don’t forget Orr… He’s next on the line-up… :b
lol
Fuck Obey and fuck shepard. Follow the dollars on this one. sad sad sad
where was this statement originally released? How come its not on any of the obet giant sites?
bucky doesnt lie… he just has a clear distaste for all things shep.
i can’t speak for anyone else, but i believe the statement was sent directly to people who requested it… i got it from Fairey’s studio… and it doesn’t take much to figure out why they wouldn’t post something of this nature on their website. bucky was on it.
“The key difference is in our motivations…”
Beg to differ, both sell work to make money.
Shep just has higher moral grounds and institutional power to back him.
Many of the people’s movements he appropriates from have no access to
those institutions for recourse, thats what they’re fighting against,
disenfranchisement. (ie labor movements, Zapatistas, Black Power struggles,
and on, and on)
Update on Fairey epic. SuperTouch launched a critique of Mark Vallen’s critique of Shepard Fairey has shown up here. It is only fair to mention Brian Sherwin’s critique of the SuperTouch critique of Vallen. (Lot of critiques going on over Shepard Fairey) The SuperTouch critique was in response of a Boston Globe article focusing on Vallen’s critique.
http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/02/jamie-oshea-obeys-shepard-fairey-by.html