[HangUp]

"There is an exchange between the artist and the public that is beautiful, it's not corporate. I want to see more of this...'' This is how American artist/ graphic designer/ activist/ illustrator Shepard Fairey grasps the allure and power that art (visual image) has, to ''hit the viewers in the gut, that make their head follow their heart.'' The importance of this concept is transcribed in every piece of work Fairey does, for over 20 years now, leading the punk -rebel to a Honoree of the 2014 Tony Goldman Visionary Artist Award. (See more on the blog)



In a recent video interview, conducted for his first major exhibition in his hometown Charleston at the Halsey Institute, the artist points out that placing stickers in public spaces was ''like a subcultural secret handshake and I didn't expect that but I saw a power to it that I was fascinated with.'' Placing something in unusual places has a certain power that cannot be undermined or ignored, and it, therefore, explains why Fairey would have never expected his art in the public sphere to be accepted without arrests.


Shepard Fairey, Andre the Giant. Image via London Vandal.

This idea, as Fairey continues, that usually ''public space is reserved for advertising, government signage and anything other than that is actually an anomaly'' is still very much a valid one and deeply rooted in people's perceptions and acknowledgement of urban space visual identity. However, there seems to be a slow, gradual shift, indicators for which are the invitation by the Halsey Institute to display works in the public sphere, alongside those of Jasper Johns ( examples of the large-scale public murals created for ''The Insistent Image: Recurrent Motifs in the Art of Shepard Fairey and Jasper Johns'' throughout Charleston below), and becoming honoree of the 2014 Tony Goldman Award (the best public art programme in the USA).





Shepard Fairey, ''Power and Glory'' murals, Charleston, 2014. All images through the artist.


Shepard Fairey - recipient of the Mural Arts first annual Tony Goldman Visionary Artist Award, with the Executive Director of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program Jane Golden, celebrating 30 years of Murals.

We are excited to see Shepard as a honoree recipient of this award, which is a sign that the importance of visual imagery in public spaces, different than corporate advertising or government signage, has been recognised and acknowledged, and perceptions change and evolve gradually. We look forward to celebrating the next decade of exciting art in public spaces!