Shepard Fairey

"Long before I knew about art galleries or even street art, I was excited about album cover art, if only because it was the visual counterpart to the music on the records I loved... With my art i try to capture the same energy and spirit that makes music so powerful and democratic." - Shepard Fairey (http://obeygiant.com/headlines/revolutions-the-album-cover-art-of-shepard-fairey)

I originally came across Shepard Fairey when looking at street artists but was suprised and happy to find his work included many album covers.Fairey is most well known for his "Andre the Giant has a Posse" (OBEY) sticker campaign and hugely successful Hope poster of barack Obama.

I was drawn to Fairey's work because of his great design/illustrative style with its minimal yet eye-catching colour schemes and bold type. Like in the Obama poster, he applies a cutout filter to people and prints them with only a few colours so they become simplistic yet outstanding. His text and backgrounds also conform to this simple style, taking on an almost geometrical look.

These covers are all for rock bands, yet you can tell that the first two are heavier than the third. The Suicide Machines' Battle Hymns shows a strong man in solid black and white weilding a hammer, with black engulfing a whole half of his face making him look dark and intimidating. The green of the background reminds me of army green which works with the word battle in the album title. When looking at the album title text it looks like the text used in the army aswell. So this album carries a sense of brute, bold force and strength. Sepultura's Nation cover has strong thick fists in the air, with silhouettes behind so you get the sense that there are many, like a nation or army rising up together. The colourful pattern in the background gives me the idea that there are emotions or thoughts or screams from all different kinds of people coming from all different directions. So even though the pattern is sharp, it has a riotous feeling. Switchfoot's New Way to be Human is much more softer in imagery, the bold red and black reflects the rock sound yet the beautiful pattern of the fingerprint is both intricate yet simple and delicate.

Looking at Faireys work has inspired me to emulate his style, to create simplistic illustrations that match the energy of the music and use colour to communicate the genre. This makes me wonder what his work would look like if he responded to girly pop music or country music.