Chris Writes.

On a recent work-sponsored field trip to San Francisco, a few of the marketing crew and the industrial design crew from work shuttled up to see the Shepard Fairey exhibit at the White Wall Gallery in a typically-sketchy artist neighborhood. He’s the name behind the now famous Obama “Hope” artwork.

On reflection, I have one comment: his art makes sense to me. We’re faced with hundreds or thousands of years of art history and the significance of works is largely based on the time they were created, and the historians that tell us how important they were.  But this is important now.  Art, and to a great extent any sort of design, is mostly a subject of it’s own timing.  Fairey’s work is clearly tied to the generation I’m growing up in and with: anti-government, pro-choices, and anti-totalitarianism. It’s art that makes sense to people like me, and as an added bonus, the minimal spectrum of color and recurring themes help to really create an identifiable and totally relevant brand for his artwork and messages. Despite the fact that I’m not a huge art fan per se, I’m now a Fairey fan.  As with so many other design-based facets of life, it’s value is in direct proportion to the degree to which it makes sense to the people it’s supposed to make sense to.

My pictures from our trip here