Shepard Fairey is a street artist known for pasting up posters around Boston and Providence. A RISD graduate, Fairey is still a teenager in many ways. Fairey grew up with punk rock, skateboarding, and art, which are all shown in his posters. The political themes of his recent posters draw influence from the political nature of punk rock music. The street art style relates to his skateboarding background of causing general mischief. The posters remain very artistic all the while. Fairey has created many famous images.

Fairey’s first poster was of Andre the Giant. He came across a photo of the wrestler in the newspaper and it inspired him. He originally put up a poster saying “Andre the Giant has a posse.” The poster displayed the image of the wrestler. The poster was modified overtime and eventually had the word “Obey” printed on a black and white picture of Andre the Giant. Fairey’s most recently famous artwork has received great recognition.

Fairey designed a poster while Obama was running for president. The poster has a picture of Obama in red white and blue. The poster takes influence from propaganda from the 40s and 50s. The word “Hope” is printed on the bottom of the poster. The poster became a large part of Obama’s campaign and landed Fairey a seat to watch the inauguration. This is Fairey biggest commercial success to date. Fairey uses images produced by others to make his own statements.

Fairey does not generate his own images, but rather modifies those of others to make a statement that not only gets him into trouble, but makes a bold statement about how different people react to different images. Fairey may interpret an image one way while someone may see it entirely differently. Ironically enough, some people modify Fairey’s images to express things in their own way. One of the most notable modifications are the “Nope” and “Dope” Obama posters. The “Hope” posters were used as a promotion for Obama’s campaign while the others were used to put down Obama and his supporters. But everybody is entitled to their own opinion. Fairey’s art is very unique and we can expect more controversy from him in the future.

Bill-ding Better Care

On January 26, 2009, former president William Clinton visited the Royal Victoria Gardens to visit the Nation AIDS program HIV/AIDS Center and HIV reference laboratory. While there, Bill spoke with the press. He reported that he has met with many children diagnosed with AIDS on this visit as well as on his other visits to the Bahamas. The Bahamas was the first country where Bill started his AIDS initiative but he has gone to 70 other countries.

The operation sets up healthcare systems in various countries so that those infected with HIV and AIDS can receive medical attention. On his recent visit, former president Clinton was in town for the Michael Jordon Celebrity Golf Tournament at the Atlantis Paradise Island. While there, he requested to visit the children that he had seen in the past.

Clinton’s first step was to lower the price of AIDS treatment medicine from $3500 to $500. He was successful at doing this and now medicine around the world can be bought at discount prices. Different projects are going on in each country, but the general purpose is to provide better treatment for victims of the AIDS virus.

Not only does Bill provide medical help for the infected, he motivates them and helps them emotionally. Clinton will continue to help the victims of the AIDS virus in the future.