Shepard Fairey and the Great Picture
Shepard Fairey did a no-no. But it was an interesting no-no. First of all, in April, 2006, Senator Barack Obama was with George Clooney and Sam Brownback at the National Press Club meeting in Washington DC. They talked about Darfur and human rights. Several photographers made hundreds of photos of the contestants, none of which photos seemed remarkable at the time. Mannie Garcia, a freelance photojournalist was there to photograph the famous guy, Clooney. Some of his photographs did include Barack Obama. Garcia later said that one photograph which later became so important was one of 275 he shot that day. All of the photographs apparently went unnoticed and unheralded.
The presentation was nothing, the photographs were nothing, the write-ups were nothing. But 18 months later, as the political campaigns began to develop we all watched the spectacle of a number of candidates trying to emerge from their pack. Of course, Obama did well, so well in fact that the nation was just getting ready to “notice” - officially - that he really “could not be elected” and so therefore should not be selected to run. The reason he couldn’t be elected was that he had just been "noticed" to be BLACK.
That week commentators were beginning to comment about Obama’s blackness. How it was too bad because he was such a good candidate otherwise, BUT he was black - and that was a fact. Meanwhile, in October of 2007, Shepard Fairey agreed with an Obama aid, Yosi Sergant, to provide a poster, and after running a Google Image Search found the Garcia image which later that same day Fairey turned into his stunning picture of Barack Obama. Fairey never approached Garcia about using his photograph even though it almost certainly was copyrighted. Whether it actually was copyrighted at that time, and whether by Garcia or the AP is still under discussion by a number of lawyers in several courts. Very possibly, Garcia would have given permission to use it had he been approached - but of course that is forever now in the land of conjecture. The picture Fairey constructed out of Garcia's photograph showed Obama not as a black man, but as a red-and-blue man, with enough white in the picture to show he was one who could unite the country, appealing to republicans, democrats, whites and blacks and even bring new voters to the polls. It had a stunning effect on the world and history.
The New Yorker art critic, Peter Schjeldahl said the picture was “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’”. In January 2009, the picture was acquired by the United States National Portrait Gallery and made part of its permanent collection. And it can be fairly claimed now to be an integral part of the story how the first black man became elected president of the United States. It was clearly one of the greatest pictures of all time.
But the “no-no” had to do with the fact that Fairey made his picture out of one of the nondescript photographs made at that nondescript meeting way back in April of 2006. Garcia made the photograph which Fairey used, but Fairey made the great picture. Garcia had reviewed his photographs on the day of the original shoot and sent 16 them on to the Associated Press, one of which was the one Fairey later found on Google. The AP has now also positioned themselves in the case, claiming that they have a right to it too. But when the poster came out it was not recognized by anybody including Garcia who later was quoted "It never occurred to me it was my picture".
So what is the story here? Probably it is a good representation of America. Nothing could be more American that this story. A photo made, a photo lost, a photo found. Who owns it? What would the photograph be worth without the picture? What will happen to Fairey? Well, he’s hired a lawyer, more Americana, and is already safely sealed in the history books for all time. The only question seeming to remain now is how much money will he have to pay for taking a useless photograph and making out of it one of the great pictures of all time? And it will remain a great picture because Obama will always be the first black president of the United States, and Fairey's picture will always be part of that story.
The presentation was nothing, the photographs were nothing, the write-ups were nothing. But 18 months later, as the political campaigns began to develop we all watched the spectacle of a number of candidates trying to emerge from their pack. Of course, Obama did well, so well in fact that the nation was just getting ready to “notice” - officially - that he really “could not be elected” and so therefore should not be selected to run. The reason he couldn’t be elected was that he had just been "noticed" to be BLACK.
That week commentators were beginning to comment about Obama’s blackness. How it was too bad because he was such a good candidate otherwise, BUT he was black - and that was a fact. Meanwhile, in October of 2007, Shepard Fairey agreed with an Obama aid, Yosi Sergant, to provide a poster, and after running a Google Image Search found the Garcia image which later that same day Fairey turned into his stunning picture of Barack Obama. Fairey never approached Garcia about using his photograph even though it almost certainly was copyrighted. Whether it actually was copyrighted at that time, and whether by Garcia or the AP is still under discussion by a number of lawyers in several courts. Very possibly, Garcia would have given permission to use it had he been approached - but of course that is forever now in the land of conjecture. The picture Fairey constructed out of Garcia's photograph showed Obama not as a black man, but as a red-and-blue man, with enough white in the picture to show he was one who could unite the country, appealing to republicans, democrats, whites and blacks and even bring new voters to the polls. It had a stunning effect on the world and history.
The New Yorker art critic, Peter Schjeldahl said the picture was “the most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You’”. In January 2009, the picture was acquired by the United States National Portrait Gallery and made part of its permanent collection. And it can be fairly claimed now to be an integral part of the story how the first black man became elected president of the United States. It was clearly one of the greatest pictures of all time.
But the “no-no” had to do with the fact that Fairey made his picture out of one of the nondescript photographs made at that nondescript meeting way back in April of 2006. Garcia made the photograph which Fairey used, but Fairey made the great picture. Garcia had reviewed his photographs on the day of the original shoot and sent 16 them on to the Associated Press, one of which was the one Fairey later found on Google. The AP has now also positioned themselves in the case, claiming that they have a right to it too. But when the poster came out it was not recognized by anybody including Garcia who later was quoted "It never occurred to me it was my picture".
So what is the story here? Probably it is a good representation of America. Nothing could be more American that this story. A photo made, a photo lost, a photo found. Who owns it? What would the photograph be worth without the picture? What will happen to Fairey? Well, he’s hired a lawyer, more Americana, and is already safely sealed in the history books for all time. The only question seeming to remain now is how much money will he have to pay for taking a useless photograph and making out of it one of the great pictures of all time? And it will remain a great picture because Obama will always be the first black president of the United States, and Fairey's picture will always be part of that story.
posted by fauxtaographer at
4:42 PM
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