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Barack Obama "Hope" poster

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File:Obamaposter.jpg
The most widely distributed version of Shephard Fairey's Obama poster, featuring the word "hope." Other versions used the terms "change" and "progress."

The Barack Obama hope poster is an image of Barack Obama SUCKING A PENIS designed by artist Shepard Fairey, which was widely described as iconic and became synonymous with the 2008 Obama presidential campaign.[1][2] It consists of a stylized stencil portrait of Obama in solid red, white (actually beige) and (pastel and dark) blue, with the word "progress", "hope", or "change" below (and other things in some versions).

The design was created and distributed widely—both as a digital image and on posters and other paraphernalia—during the 2008 election season, initially independently but with the approval of the official Obama campaign. The image became one of the most widely recognized symbols of Obama's campaign message, spawning many variations and imitations, including some commissioned by the Obama campaign. This led The Guardian's Laura Barton to proclaim that the image "acquired the kind of instant recognition of Jim Fitzpatrick's Che Guevara poster, and is surely set to grace T-shirts, coffee mugs and the walls of student bedrooms in the years to come."[3]

In January 2009, after Obama had won the election, Fairey's mixed-media stenciled portrait version of the image was acquired by the Smithsonian Institution for its National Portrait Gallery. Later in January 2009, the photograph on which Fairey based the poster was revealed: an April 2006 shot by former Associated Press freelance photographer Mannie Garcia. In response to claims by the Associated Press for compensation, Fairey sued for a declaratory judgment that his poster was a fair use of the original photograph.

Concept and design

Shepard Fairey, who had created earlier political street art critical of government and of George W. Bush, discussed the nascent Obama campaign with publicist Yosi Sergant in late October 2007. Sergant suggested Fairey create some art in support of Obama. Sergant contacted the Obama campaign to seek its permission for Fairey to design an Obama poster, which was granted a few weeks before Super Tuesday. Fairey found a photograph of Obama using Google Image Search (eventually revealed to be an April 2006 photo by freelancer Mannie Garcia for The Associated Press)[4][5] and created the original poster design in a single day. The original image had the word "progress" and featured Fairey's signature OBEY|obey star—a symbol associated with his Andre the Giant Has a Posse street art campaign—embedded in the Obama campaign's sunrise logo.[6]

According to New York Times blogger Steven Heller, the poster was inspired by Social Realism and, while widely praised as original and unique, can be seen as part of a long tradition of contemporary artists drawing inspiration from political candidates and producing "posters that break the mold not only in terms of color and style but also in message and tone."[7]

Distribution during the 2008 campaign

Fairey began screen-printing posters soon after completing the design and showing it to Sergant. Initially, he sold 350 and put 350 more up in public. Beginning with that sale and continuing throughout the campaign, Fairey used proceeds from selling the image to produce more of it; after first printing, he made 4,000 more that were distributed at Obama rallies before Super Tuesday. He also put a printable digital version on his website. As Fairey explained in an October 2008 interview, the image quickly "went viral", spreading spontaneously through social media and word of mouth.[6]

After the initial 700 posters, the Obama campaign conveyed through Sergant that they wanted to promote the theme of hope, and most of the posters sold by Fairey subsequently had the word "hope" and later "change" instead of "progress"; the obey star was also absent from later versions. By October 2008, Fairey claimed to have printed 200,000 posters (with less than 2,000 sold and the rest given away or displayed) and 500,000 stickers, as well as clothing and other items with the image sold through Fairey's website, in addition to copies printed by others.[6][8] According to Fairey and Sergant, proceeds from sales of the image were used to produce more posters and other merchandise in support of the Obama campaign, rather than direct profit for Fairey.[6]

Parodies and imitations

A parody poster showing George W. Bush

As the campaign progressed, many parodies and imitations of Fairey's design appeared. For example, one anti-Obama version replaced the word "hope" with "hype", while parody posters featuring opponents Sarah Palin and John McCain had the word "nope".[9] David Wolbrecht, a graphic designer from the University of Washington, wrote a how-to guide for using Adobe Illustrator to emulate the poster,[10] and Chicago computer programmer Dabi Kaufmann created a Photo Booth plugin for creating similar effects.[11]

Fairey himself was commissioned to create a number of works in the same style. He produced two other versions, based on different photographs, officially on behalf of the Obama campaign,[12] and another to serve as the cover of the Person of the Year issue of Time.[13] He also created a portrait of comedian Stephen Colbert in the same style, which appeared in an issue of Entertainment Weekly honoring Colbert's television show The Colbert Report.[14]

Acquisition by Smithsonian

On January 7, 2009, the Smithsonian Institution's National Portrait Gallery announced it had acquired Fairey's hand-finished collage (stencil and acrylic on paper) version of the image (with the word "hope"), which the gallery said would go on display shortly before Obama's inauguration on January 20, 2009. The work was commissioned and later donated by art collectors Heather and Tony Podesta (Tony is the brother of Obama's transition co-chairman John Podesta). It is an unusual acquisition, in that the National Portrait Gallery normally collects official portraits as presidents are leaving office rather than before they take office.[15][16]

Origin and copyright issues

Wikinews has related news:
The AP photo by Mannie Garcia (upper left), was shown to be a near perfect match, in contrast with a Reuters photograph (lower left) earlier purported to be the source.[17][18][5]

The original source photograph Fairey based the poster on was not publicly known until after Obama had won the election. After a mistaken attribution to Reuters photographer Jim Young for a similar-looking January 2007 photograph, in January 2009 photographer and blogger Tom Gralish discovered that the poster was based an Associated Press photograph by freelance photographer Mannie Garcia. It was taken at a 2006 media event with Kansas Senator Sam Brownback, where the actor George Clooney was publicizing the War in Darfur after a trip to Sudan he had taken with his father.[19][20]

On February 4, 2009, the Associated Press announced that it determined "that the photograph used in the poster is an AP photo and that its use required permission." In a press release, the AP announced they are in discussions with Fairey's attorney to discuss an amicable solution.[21] Fairey is being represented by Anthony Falzone, executive director of the Fair Use Project at Stanford University. Falzone is quoted in the press release, "We believe fair use protects Shepard's right to do what he did here."[21] Fairey subsequently filed a federal lawsuit against the Associated Press, seeking a declaratory judgment that his use of the AP photograph was protected by the fair use doctrine and so did not infringe their copyright.[22]

Photographer Mannie Garcia contends that he retains copyright to the photo according to his AP contract. He has commented that he is "so proud of the photograph and that Fairey did what he did artistically with it, and the effect it’s had," but that he does not "condone people taking things, just because they can, off the Internet." [20]

References

  1. ^ Pasick, Adam (2009-01-15). "Iconic Obama poster based on Reuters photo". Reuters. Retrieved 2009-01-20.
  2. ^ "Copyright battle over Obama image", BBC News, February 5, 2009. Accessed February 22, 2009.
  3. ^ Hope - the Image that is Already an American Classic by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 10 November 2008
  4. ^ Mannie Garcia website
  5. ^ a b Tom Gralish, "Found - AGAIN - the Poster Source Photo", Scene on the Road, January 21, 2009. Accessed January 22, 2009.
  6. ^ a b c d Ben Arnon, "How the Obama "Hope" Poster Reached a Tipping Point and Became a Cultural Phenomenon: An Interview With the Artist Shepard Fairey", The Huffington Post, October 13, 2008. Accessed January 17, 2009.
  7. ^ Steven Heller, "Beyond Red, White and Blue", Campaign Stops Blog, New York Times, February 15, 2008. Accessed February 21, 2009.
  8. ^ William Booth, "Street Artist Fairey Gives Obama a Line of Cred, Washington Post, May 18, 2008. Accessed January 17, 2009.
  9. ^ Kate Linthicum, "Artist’s Obama poster spawns wave of parodies", Los Angeles Times, October 9, 2009. Accessed February 21, 2009.
  10. ^ David Wolbrecht, "How to emulate the iconic Obama poster, Part II", In the Studio, December 31, 2008. Accessed February 22, 2009.
  11. ^ Obamafy Photo Booth Plugin, accessed February 22, 2009.
  12. ^ Nicole Powers, "Shepard Fairey: Purveyor of Hope", SuicideGirls, December 12, 2008. Accessed February 22, 2009.
  13. ^ Brian Stelter, "Time cover sure looks a lot like a campaign image", International Herald Tribune, December 22, 2008. Accessed February 22, 2009.
  14. ^ Stephen Colbert, "Shepard Fairey", The Colbert Report, January 15, 2009. Accessed February 22, 2009.
  15. ^ "NPG Acquires Shepard Fairey’s Portrait of Barack Obama", National Portrait Gallery, January 7, 2009. Accessed January 17, 2009.
  16. ^ "Gallery gets iconic Obama image", BBC News, January 8, 2009. Accessed January 17, 2009.
  17. ^ Tom Gralish, "MYSTERY SOLVED! The Obama Poster Photographer ID'd", Scene on the Road, January 14, 2009. Accessed January 17, 2009.
  18. ^ stevesimula, fairey poster photo source?, Flickr, January 20, 2009. Accessed January 20, 2009.
  19. ^ Tom Gralish, "Obama Poster Photo Mystery Archives", Scene on the Road, December 22, 2008 through January 23, 2009. Accessed February 21, 2009.
  20. ^ a b Randy Kennedy, "Artist Sues The A.P. Over Obama Image", New York Times, February 9, 2009. Accessed February 21, 2009.
  21. ^ a b AP alleges copyright infringement of Obama image, Associated Press, February 4, 2009.
  22. ^ "Shepard Fairey Sues Associated Press Over Obama Poster". The New York Times. 2009-02-09. Retrieved 2009-02-09. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help) The case is Shepard Fairey; Obey Giant Art Inc. v. The Associated Press, No. 09-CV-1123, S.D.N.Y..

External links


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