Before the Super Secret Summer Surprise mishaps went down at the ICA the other night, I had the chance to peruse the Shepard Fairey exhibit before it closed for the night. I’m a fan of the guy’s work, so I certainly enjoyed the exhibit. But I couldn’t help but smile when I saw this piece:
Obey MacKaye
Right smack dab in the middle of the show. Well, everything is “in the middle of the show”: Fairey’s peices seem to stand out in the museum like none other. That may be a tribute to Fairey’s skills at creating images that really captivate and jump out at people, which may or may not subvert what he was trying to create with the whole Obey campaign. (Now I’m really on a tangent here, so, if you’re lucky enough to see the exhibit, do, and if not, the idea is relatively complicated to explain in a short sentence so you might want to read his manifesto.)
I’m interested to see if Ian is aware of this print. Who knows really (though my guess is that he might have been, as all the proceeds from the print were donated to charity). I have to admit, it was pretty great to see Ian’s likeness in the museum, all potential ideological complaints aside. If part of the value of Fairey’s art is to spread the ideas of the people he transformed into art, then hopefully some curious museum-goer without any idea of  who MacKaye is will give thought to looking him up and maybe become a fan of Fugazi, The Evens, Minor Threat, or maybe even Embrace. And that’s pretty great.
