Street Art (1980s-)
Street art, an art form that began gaining popularity in the early 1980s during an increase of graffiti art, is any kind of visual art displayed in a public location. In many cases, it is on the side of walls, but it could also be on the sidewalk, street, or free-standing sculpture. Stencil graffiti, wheat-pasted posters (picture posted in public places, usually adhered with wheat paste) and sticker art (attaching stickers in public places) are popular methods of this kind of art. Many street artists choose to use public areas as their canvas in an effort to communicate directly with the public people, escaping the traditional art setting. Much street art catches one's attention by presenting present social issues in a blunt and frank manner.
I imitated Shepard Fairey's famous Obama "Hope" style by first Posterizing, and then by using Thresholds to create different layers that held decreasing amounts of black filling in the shape of my face as one moved from bottom to top. I then filled each of these layers in with their respective colors. The top layers, which had less of my face shaded in black, provide the details of my face (for. ex. my eyes, and the face painting on around my eye), while the lower layers, which had more black, are still visible in the places where the higher layers had no color. This created the overall layered effect. Also, the blue/yellow striped layer was achieved using the Halftone Pattern Filter.
I imitated Shepard Fairey's famous Obama "Hope" style by first Posterizing, and then by using Thresholds to create different layers that held decreasing amounts of black filling in the shape of my face as one moved from bottom to top. I then filled each of these layers in with their respective colors. The top layers, which had less of my face shaded in black, provide the details of my face (for. ex. my eyes, and the face painting on around my eye), while the lower layers, which had more black, are still visible in the places where the higher layers had no color. This created the overall layered effect. Also, the blue/yellow striped layer was achieved using the Halftone Pattern Filter.
Shepard Fairey
Born in 1970, he is a modern street artist who first became known for his "Andre the Giant has a Posse" sticker piece, seen above on the far left. This piece had a powerful effect, causing many people to begin to question the surrounding society, though there is still much debate about the meaning of the piece. However, he is most well-known for his Obama "Hope" poster, seen on the far right, which began as an independent street art movement, but eventually was embraced Obama's 2008 election campaign. He has become famous for this layered style of yellow, blue, and red colors. The use of current political events to make a clear statement in his originally independent "Hope" poster is characteristic of the street art movement.