how did it start...

Post by **speedoguy** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:13 pm

what made you start collecting shepards art, did you notice the stickers first, or his clothing line?, are you just a big art fan that stumbled across his work? something turned you into the fanatic that you are, to the point were you talk about his art all day on this website, so what hooked you?

Post by **speedoguy** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:18 pm

for me, i used to write, and when i was at one of the older guys house from my crew, i came across a copy of "while you were sleeping", ( no, illyanadmc not the Sandra Bullock movie) and they had an interview with shep, i was amazed at how much work this guy put into getting up, and how i had seen the stickers and never knew how much this thing had grown, i became a fan almost instantly, started buying alot of his older shirts, and hats... then when i started seeing his political art, i was hooked big time...

Website · Post by **mose** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 1:51 pm

My first exposure was in 1994 when I was a freshman in college. I thought the Giant stickers were funny, but didn't really dig them as they were part of a different set. I was part of the rave scene in the NYC area, and the skater punks were the ones plastering the stickers everywhere. The two groups tended not to like each other, as we were generally looked down upon. In Supply and Demand, Shepard mentions not wanting to be associated with the rave scene(when talking about the psychedelic stickers). This echoes the attitude I used to experience.

In 2001, I discovered obey giant proper through, of all things, Ebay keyword spamming. I was looking for a pair of Japanese exclusive jeans, and someone used obey giant in the decsription. I search engined and came across the website. I was very impressed to see how much the little sticker had grown, and really appreciated the subverting of cultural icons as it reminded me of how rave flyers had been doing the same thing for a decade.

I bought my first print in 2004, as I had finally set down some roots. Prior to that, I moved frequently, lived in dank, illegal basement apartments, and tended not to accumulate things.

The turning point into obsession was my first glimpse of the Beatles set.

pogue79 · Post by **pogue79** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 2:35 pm

I remember seeing the Andre face in the late 90's but I never really liked it. I still don't really like it as a logo. After I checked out his posters though, I became a fan.

I felll in love with his stuff when he started using those crazy patterns in the backgrounds, like in the Nixon/Lenin/Mao Money set. Those posters blew my mind. I seems like thats when he really found his style, his illustration style seemed to be perfected and he started creating intricate backgrounds rather than flat colour.

I still can't figure out how he makes those insane spirograph patterns. Anyone know? Does he use Illustrator or is there some pattern-making-program?

Jason Filipow · Post by **Jason Filipow** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:19 pm

pogue79 wrote:I still can't figure out how he makes those insane spirograph patterns. Anyone know? Does he use Illustrator or is there some pattern-making-program?

Some of them are scanned and manipulated patterns from currency sources/references, others are created from scratch in Illustrator.

Jason Filipow · Post by **Jason Filipow** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 3:21 pm

speedoguy wrote:what made you start collecting shepards art, did you notice the stickers first, or his clothing line?, are you just a big art fan that stumbled across his work? something turned you into the fanatic that you are, to the point were you talk about his art all day on this website, so what hooked you?

My collection started when he gave me a hand-drawn (with Sharpies) Jimi Hendrix t-shirt, a recreation of the famous VanHammesfeld portrait. Then I swindled him out of a Bad Brains 'Banned in DC' tshirt, again hand-drawn with Sharpies...this was about 1987.

Post by **johnstonamerica** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 4:11 pm

I've been screenprinting since '84 - only garments though, not paper. Being an artist also of course I knew Warhol, Lichtenstein, etc..

Just happened to be searching the web one day for handscreened posters and.. you guys know the rest!

Website · Post by **illyanadmc** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 7:38 pm

speedoguy wrote:...i came across a copy of "while you were sleeping", ( no, illyanadmc not the Sandra Bullock movie)...

and what's that supposed to mean?! because i am a girl, you think i've never heard of WYWS? i'll have you know that i am in possession of fifteen issues... FIFTEEN! (i just counted them.) and i have never seen that POS movie. so THERE. too bad it's not around anymore... hey, i wonder if i have the issue with the shep interview.

as for me, i have no idea how i found out about obey. i used to read juxtapoz magazine a whole lot, so that might be it. i also used to be a huge paul frank collector in 2000/2001, and he did some collaborations with obey around that time. i just checked my ebay emails, and i bought a PF/obey CD case (with the star and half-moon; it's in the gallery if you search for "CD") in december of 2001, and i bought it because it was an obey collaboration... so i am guessing i became a fan in 2000/2001.

i might even venture to say that i was a fan before adam... but i am sure he will deny that accusation.

Post by **speedoguy** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:05 pm

i knew your responce would make me laugh, thats why i said it. :lol:

Website · Post by **illyanadmc** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 8:45 pm

speedoguy wrote:i knew your responce would make me laugh, thats why i said it.

you're such a dirty instigator!

zminister · Post by **zminister** » Tue Oct 03, 2006 11:15 pm

When I was living in NYC, I kept seeing I started seeing Giant stickers and posters around the city. Over beers a friend of mine and I started talking art and I mentioned the Giant stuff. He said he bought a few pieces of "that stuff" and said that I could have them if I bought him beers for the rest of the night.

Over 50 prints later, I ran into a human roadblock called my wife...

pogue79 · Post by **pogue79** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 12:38 am

That's amazing... I could'nt even fathom craeting some of those patterns. Is there any tricks you use besides step & repeat?

Jason Filipow wrote:
Some of them are scanned and manipulated patterns from currency sources/references, others are created from scratch in Illustrator.

Post by **noverflow** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 7:07 am

It was late 2000, I was surfing the web, and by mistake came across the site. I actually said "What is this commie bullcr-p" (a line from hackers)

I showed it to illyana after reading the manifesto, and being blown away by the idea. She said she had seen something about it before.

A little while later I ordered my first print, "Visual Pollution Gas Mask". It was an AP. My second print was "VP Smoke Stacks". It was numbered, and for the longest time I wondered why my other one was not. I did not like the second one as much, and gave it to obbi to hang on his wall.

A while went by and I ordered a print a year or so,
(Strummer Poster, and Radicals)
Untill 2003 when I ordered 2 Fairey Anti-Bush posters. One for me and one for obbi.

Right around that time I started watching the site more, and ordering more.

In 2004, I started buying up a storm, and shortly Obbi followed.

The 2 of us quickly became a searching duo. We constantly emailed back and forth pics of old stuff we found on the web, and we were always on the lookout for more.

In 2005, we went nuts. Well mainly obbi. His collection trumps mine (IMO). I was moving to Prov to go to school, so I was trying to save some money. But that was the summer of Beautiful Loser.

In dec of 2005, I started to make a list of every print the 2 of us knew about.

In jan of 2006, I put it on the web. It was just a list on my .mac account.

But I wanted a community for obey. Something that had never lasted the test of time. I knew if I did it right, and kept it going it would build momentum and sustain its self.

Here we are now, and thank you guys for keeping it alive.

Now where the hell are the new prints?

lunystitchmonkey · Post by **lunystitchmonkey** » Wed Oct 04, 2006 11:55 pm

Last year at the begining of Freshman Foundations year at RISD, I met a kid named Adam, or "the old guy" as we called him seeing as he was the only one in our section who was not straight out of highschool. We were not really friends, in fact we were utter emenies because we were both the "I can't draw but I know a lot of random things and I really like math and science" kid and thus we were each other's competition.

After the first week of classes for which he wore suits to class (haha), I remember noticing that he wore Obey shirts on a regular basis (I now know that he ALWAYS wears Obey Giant clothes). I had often seen the Obey stickers on the street and such but really didn't know too much about it and I couldn't ask Adam about it because we were enemies.

Then second semester, we were in the same section AGAIN! However, instead of butting heads, we sort of became friends. He often talked about Shepard Fariey and I went on the site several times and such but still I really didn't know all that much about the ideas behind it. As it became apparent that I was going to spend the summer in Providence, we hung out more and eventually, I hung out at Adam and illianadmc's apartment where I was given a glimse of Adam's print collection. I really liked the prints and really got into learning more about the concept behind it all. We went to Boston one day and walked down Newberry Street and played "spot the obey sticker" and I was amazed at the sucess of the whole campaign.

This summer the 3 of us went to NYC and walked around and took pictures of every sticker and it boggled my mind that it was so big. We went to a talk by these guys at GRL (they created throwies!) and it is amazing how cool that world of street art is.

I bought my first prints in August, of which 3 out of the 5 I bought actually arrived and one of them, Psycho Posse in Black (an AP too), wasn't signed and I was sad. I also got a Rose Soldier and Revolution Woman.

I only wish I knew about this stuff earlier seeing as I'm originally from LA and could have at the time gone to things like the gallery openings and stuff.

As for now, Adam & I are back in school but we intend to go dig up some early stuff of Shepard's that one of our teachers told us about.

whew--that was too long

Perplexed · Post by **Perplexed** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 8:10 am

You know what. I'm completely stumped. (Discombobulated to you guys; stumped probably being an English term to do with cricket and whatnot.) I have literally no idea how I came across Shepard Fairy. It was only this year though. I've got into collecting art fairly recently after seeing my Banksy collection explode in value, allowing me to sell a few and buy other stuff: Mark Ryden, Invader, Faile, R. Crumb, Insect, and Shepard F. Frank Shepard Fairy probably being my favourite of the lot right now but I'm damned if I can remember where I first stumbled onto it.

MsFortune · Post by **MsFortune** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:39 pm

I don’t remember how I first became aware of the stickers but I liked them, which lead me to start buying prints in ‘97 because I needed art and I needed it cheap.

Post by **scud80** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:46 pm

i don't remember when i first saw obey stuff, but the first thing i do remember is the original 3" and 8" qees when i got into vinyl toys a little over a year ago. i didn't really get into the art until the beginning of the summer, and it just happened to coincide with my sell-off of most of my vinyl collection. so, all those funds pretty much turned into shepard's art (only way i could afford so much in so short a time, as i'm also a grad student).

i surely wouldn't have gone as crazy with the stuff if it weren't for the great resources this site and forum offer. now, somebody sell me a tank, tokyo roof, and VP gas mask.

Baurmann Gallery · Post by **Baurmann Gallery** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 11:33 pm

This was my first Obey piece...and my favorite!!! I think it was around 2000 that I got this. At the time though, I just bought it cause I liked it. I had no clue how rare it was, or really that much about Shep other than I had seen that face a lot of places. Someone at UCSD even did a Chancellor Dynes has a Posse all over the school in 98/99, which I thought was funny.

Though I purchased a few prints from Obey.com, it was not until going up to the Gallery in 2002, meeting Shepard and Amanda and getting those 2 Commandante on Wood did my fine art collecting begin in general. From there, the rest is history and still being written [w/ some big surprises on the way like some unseen Banksy canvases for sale

] But most importantly, I love dealing with art in the capacity I am now, and definitely owe it to Shep and Amanda without a doubt.

I always just found it funny my best piece and favorite overall [you could not temp me with a price w/ even], is one I was lucky enough to purchase cheaply just cause I liked it

hightimecarrsim · Post by **hightimecarrsim** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 8:42 pm

speedoguy wrote:what made you start collecting shepards art, did you notice the stickers first, or his clothing line?, are you just a big art fan that stumbled across his work? something turned you into the fanatic that you are, to the point were you talk about his art all day on this website, so what hooked you?

i've only been lurking here for a while, less than 6 months. i love the subversive t shirts and was browsing for more online and found that SF had loads of art with similar messages.

i have always liked the stark style of communist propaganda materials (i recently worked on a documentary about the way mao was presented through propaganda) so i fell in love with what i saw

i've only got a few prints- 5 and have yet to get them framed up- but it would appear that i've found a new (and annoyingly expensive) hobby

Jason Filipow · Post by **Jason Filipow** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:16 pm

Baurmann Gallery wrote:

This was my first Obey piece...and my favorite!!! I think it was around 2000 that I got this. At the time though, I just bought it cause I liked it. I had no clue how rare it was, or really that much about Shep other than I had seen that face a lot of places. Someone at UCSD even did a Chancellor Dynes has a Posse all over the school in 98/99, which I thought was funny.

Though I purchased a few prints from Obey.com, it was not until going up to the Gallery in 2002, meeting Shepard and Amanda and getting those 2 Commandante on Wood did my fine art collecting begin in general. From there, the rest is history and still being written [w/ some big surprises on the way like some unseen Banksy canvases for sale ] But most importantly, I love dealing with art in the capacity I am now, and definitely owe it to Shep and Amanda without a doubt.

I always just found it funny my best piece and favorite overall [you could not temp me with a price w/ even], is one I was lucky enough to purchase cheaply just cause I liked it

Holy smokes! THAT is a really REALLY rare piece! Probably about 1989, spray paint stencil on contact paper...look at the signature! You can actually read it (before he had to sign thousands of items every month!!) I don't think that Shepard even has any of those.

Baurmann Gallery · Post by **Baurmann Gallery** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 8:47 pm

Holy smokes! THAT is a really REALLY rare piece! Probably about 1989, spray paint stencil on contact paper...look at the signature! You can actually read it (before he had to sign thousands of items every month!!) I don't think that Shepard even has any of those.

LOL, I never noticed that about the signature until you pointed it out. Definitely a big difference from signing thousands upon thousands of things later...You can actually read that it says's Shepard Fairey

Yeah, actually you are right. Shep does not have one of these. He has the original stencil though. Back in the day, I was invited up to the Gallery prob cause of that reason

I just thought they were being cool, come up and check out our stuff/say hello...but when I was up there Amanda just kinda slyly said that original I stumbled of mine is a REALLY REALLY rare piece, and handed me one of the La Base books as a gift. When I got home and saw a piece on wallpaper in the first few pages of the book, and then saw the Hendrix/Obey Fillmore poster he did [w/ that same Hendrix/Obey Image], I got the clue how rare that piece likely was.

I have had some incredibly good luck over the years getting some of Shep's pieces he prob thought would not be seen again. He knows I will never be a bastard if he truly wants one back. He is the only person out there who could pull that one off though

[I have had some good luck w/ getting stuff that the artists do not even have in general. That is actually how I got to know Crash so well, as I sold him back a piece he did for Sidney Janis in 1984]

My best finds [besides the above]:

the below piece is in PERFECT condition, which is amazing...

This below piece he actually gave his only copy he had of it of to Zephyr [before Shep was famous, Zeph said he liked it and asked for it, and of coarse Shep is going to say yes to one of his graff idols]. This was not the one he gave to Zeph though. This one was from a Skate Shop in Huntington Beach [called Hot Wheels] that used to be owned one of Shep's favorite pro skaters. He sent the silkscreen out to him, and somebody from his shop ended up with it. I was soo stoked to find that, and when Amanda told me he did not have one, I had to get it back to him. It was almost lost in the mail though. 1 month after it was supposed to arrive [and I was stressing calling all over trying to locate it, it magically showed up at my door, late w/ no explanation, but it was there, so I did not care...

I also had it framed professionally to take care of the condition it was in. It was more a sentimental piece than anything too though, and he was VERY stoked to see it again, let alone get it back as a gift.

This pic is from the Wiki, since I did not snap one when I had it in my possession...

Post by **johnstonamerica** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 9:15 pm

That Savage Giants piece is my single most favorite too. By far. Wild..

Jason Filipow · Post by **Jason Filipow** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 12:12 am

Baurmann-Interesting story...thanks for posting it. 'Savage Giants' is rare, too, with an edition of 50, I think. And each one is pretty unique, since they had one-off spray painted backgrounds (gold).

Baurmann Gallery · Post by **Baurmann Gallery** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:32 am

I am sure the big question is how many remain of each [that did not get thrown away or damaged so bad from hanging in dorm rooms], since who knew back then the MEGA SUPERSTAR shep would become back in 94 or 95

Baurmann Gallery · Post by **Baurmann Gallery** » Tue Oct 10, 2006 1:35 am

The thing I am curious though Jason...what are some of your rarest pieces knowing Shep for so long...do you still have those hand drawn tees?

The Giant

how did it start...

how did it start...

Re: how did it start...

in NYC...

Re: how did it start...