Reference no: EM133376590

Case Study:

Shepard Fairey blurs the lines between graphic design, street art, and traditional fine art. His work defies labels but began to capture the world's imagination with the stencil of Andre the Giant seen here. While in art school, Fairey began posting stickers featuring the wrestler's face with the word "OBEY" around town. People were curious about the mysterious stickers, starting Fairey on a decades-long campaign that used Andre the Giant's face as its main symbol. As he explains, "The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker."

Fairey's body of work has included stickers, clothing, album covers, movie posters, fine-art prints, and murals. In 2008 he created a poster of presidential candidate Barack Obama's likeness with the word "HOPE." Made as street art to promote the candidate Fairey supported, the poster proved immensely popular and became the unofficial symbol of Obama's campaign. Viewers found it uplifting and powerful. The Smithsonian Institution acquired a copy of it for its collection, and the new president even wrote Fairey a letter of thanks.

Whether creating a fine-art print or a sticker, Fairey works in a boldly graphic style. His images are dominated by large, flat areas of red, black, light blue, and tan. He does not use hatching to model his forms. Instead, flat colors placed side by side suggest shading. His compositions are symmetrical, and all design rests on the surface of the page. Typography always enjoys a prominent role in his images, too, frequently shaping the meaning of the work-as with the command to "OBEY."

Fairey cherishes the intersection of art and design. As he explained in a recent interview, "For so long [art and design] have been two separate worlds." At his design agency, Fairey sees this intersection as a competitive advantage. "It's helped us as an agency because we can do our own illustrations and people want a style that no one else can provide, but yet we can do all of the technical side of design too."

While Fairey's career is still in full bloom, he has already enjoyed immense success. He has shown his work at exhibitions around the world and major museums have purchased his images. Fairey's many awards recognize his political activism and his artistry, including the honorary doctorate he received from the Pratt Institute in 2015.

Question: What is the differences between art and design?