Andre the Giant Has a Posse

Andre the giant is a street art and viral marketing campaign based on a design by Shepard Fairey created in 1989.They began showing across many cities across the USA. It first started off as an experiment in phenomenology but over  time the artwork has been reused in a number of ways and has become worldwide. Fairey has altered the work stylistically and semantically into the Obey giant.

OBEY Giant has been spread by stencil, stickers, murals, and large wheatpaste posters, covering public and private spaces from building faces and street sign backs, to commercial spaces such as billboards and bus stop posters.

It can evoke different reactions between the public. People who know what the campaign is find it almost amusing to find a sticker, however, because the products motive is not obvious it can provoke thought and possible frustration from people who see it. The sticker has no meaning but exists only to cause people to react, to contemplate and search for meaning in the sticker. Because OBEY has no actual meaning, the various reactions and interpretations of those who view it reflect their personality and the nature of their sensibilities.

I really like the idea of this campaign, it is so interesting to look at and has became a worldwide phenomena. The simple yet detailed images are very iconic is very interesting to look at and almost sophisticated in how its been made.The main colour use of black and red is also very effective and makes it more eye catching  I would like to maybe link ideas from this campaign into my own work.

"The FIRST AIM OF PHENOMENOLOGY is to reawaken a sense of wonder about one’s environment. The OBEY sticker attempts to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the sticker and their relationship with their surroundings." - Shepard Fairly 1990