Shepard Fairey, whose blue and red portrait became the defining image of the 2008 campaign, says president did not live up to the hype – ‘not even close’

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The man on the poster is still president. But the artist behind the poster has moved on.



Shepard Fairey, whose stencil portrait of Barack Obama with the caption “Hope” became the defining image of the 2008 presidential campaign, told Esquire magazine in an interview published on Thursday that the politician had not lived up to the propaganda.

“Not even close,” Fairey said.

“Obama has had a really tough time, but there have been a lot of things that he’s compromised on that I never would have expected. I mean, drones and domestic spying are the last things I would have thought [he’d support].”

The Hope poster represented an unusually explicit foray into politics for the Los Angeles-based artist, who first won renown for an image of Andre the Giant with various captions, including the command “Obey”.

Fairey based his “Hope” creation on an Associated Press photograph he failed to credit at the time. In 2011 the artist and the AP settled a copyright lawsuit for an undisclosed sum.

Fairey is not a wholesale detractor of Obama, however.

“I’ve met Obama a few times, and I think Obama’s a quality human being, but I think that he finds himself in a position where your actions are largely dictated by things out of your control,” Fairey told Esquire. “I’m not giving him a pass for not being more courageous, but I do think the entire system needs an overhaul and taking money out of politics would be a really good first step.”

As for whom he is supporting in 2016, Fairey said: “I mean nothing against Hillary [Clinton]. I agree with Hillary on most issues, but campaign finance structure makes me very angry.”

In 2014, Fairey released a poster that was evocative of the Obama image, but which featured a different, anonymous politician holding a fistful of cash.

The image was captioned: “Sold”.

