Shepard Fairey’s love of skateboarding and punk music led him to create his first stencil in 1984, when he modified a board with his own images, creating a DIY cut and paste feel which has become a prominent feature of his work since.
He gained international notoriety with his 1989 campaign Andre the Giant Has a Posse which helped him establish Obey as an global force. What began as a low level sticker campaign soon became a ground breaking experiment in global branding with the ‘Giant’ logo gradually consuming New York City.
Fairey’s pioneering approach encouraged everyone to become involved in the campaign, making his designs available for download on the internet so anyone could play a part in the Obey propaganda. These images were accompanied with instructions on how to create a stencil leading to a deluge of Obey stickers and stencils appearing all over the world.