When I put my work into a museum, or a gallery, I try to maintain the spirit of what's on the street, but I make something that is a little bit more refined and has more subtleties, more depth, and more of a seductive surface quality. I make all the work with the exact same techniques I use for the street, so the spirit of the street is there. I feel like there's a fairly seamless connection.
What influence does your clothing line have on how your art is perceived?
I think clothing is an unintimidating canvas for my graphics. And no matter how much people say that's going to devalue my fine art, I'm always going to do it.
What's your most fucked-up arrest story?
There've been a few. Denver wasn't great because I literally had a gun pointed at my head for putting posters up at the DNC. But the worst one was in 2003. I got arrested in Chinatown [New York City] doing a billboard. Got beaten up by the cops. They were telling me, "Fucking stop! Don't move! We'll shoot you," and I knew they weren't going to shoot me for putting a poster on a blank billboard. Once I'm cuffed, they're tackling me and punching me in the street. One of the cops cut his knuckle on the ground trying to punch me in the face. So they pressed felony charges against me, and luckily there were some witnesses and so the case was dropped. . . . All in all, compared to all the stuff I've done, I've gotten off pretty easily.
We got pulled over earlier today by an undercover cop. I jumped out of the car and put a sticker on a pole. And the next thing you know, an unmarked car pulls up. [Makes siren noise] That's why we were late getting here.
Related:
Vandal-in-chief, Photos: Shepard Fairey, Z-Trip, Chuck D at the ICA, Review: Shepard Fairey + Z-Trip + Chuck D, More 
- Vandal-in-chief
Shepard Fairey and his show "Supply and Demand" arrive at the Institute of Contemporary Art like a guerrilla general emerging from the jungle after his forces have taken the capital.
- Photos: Shepard Fairey, Z-Trip, Chuck D at the ICA
Shepard Fairey spins at Obey Experiment REDUX at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston
- Review: Shepard Fairey + Z-Trip + Chuck D
So Shepard Fairey actually made it this time. No insane, last-minute sting operations by Boston cops lurking just off the ICA’s property line. But also: no grand dramatics, either. (Like, he totally could have parachuted through a shattered skylight. In slow motion.) Fairey just showed up and did his thing.
- Photos: Shepard Fairey in Harvard Square
- Inside the box
"Young people, and artists especially, respond to authenticity. And whether he's just very good at seeming authentic or whether he's really authentic, I think he has a lot of us convinced."
- Slideshow: Shepard Fairey slaps a mural on the Phoenix offices
January 22, 2009
- Radical chic
“The gallery system relies on supply and demand, and I created a demand for my work by doing street art.”
- Shepard Fairey bombs Boston
The Massachusetts-bred street artist Shepard Fairey returned to his home-turf this month to "bomb" the Phoenix offices, conduct interviews, and unveil his latest work at the ICA.
- Arresting Shepard Fairey
A cynic might argue that anything that publicizes art is a good thing. Art, after all, challenges how you think — provokes thoughts, insights, emotions that otherwise might not be stirred. It also can amuse and entertain.
- Artists and beholders
I found it rather stupefying that the Phoenix proudly toted an interview with Shepard Fairey on the same front page it used to complain about artists getting the shaft by money-grubbing businesses.
- Slideshow: Shepard Fairey, ''Supply and Demand''
Obey Giant Art
- Less
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