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Posted by Jason Urban on May 8th, 2009 | Greenpeace to German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “go ahead and fix the banks, but fix global warming, too.”
Just when you were starting to forget the iconic Shepard Fairey Obama poster, it gets resuscitated to support another cause. Greenpeace is promoting a December climate conference in Copenhagen by posting these Angie-You-Can posters around Germany. While I feel an almost-nostalgic appreciation at the Fairey poster reference (has it really only been a few months since inauguration?), this image falls short of inspiring “hope”. Nice try, Greenpeace, but it’s time for a new design.
On a colloquial note, Merkelgraphics lacks the catchiness of Obamagraphics.
A downloadable PDF is generously available.
Posted by Jason Urban on December 15th, 2008 | 
We’ve all watched the graphic arts play an important role in this election. Starting with Shepard Fairey’s first Progress poster, there’s been more creative print energy dedicated to this campaign than probably any other in history. It’s only natural that as Obama shifted from candidate to victor, his image would evolve.
Which brings me to this post’s subject: The Obama Store. It’s not officially a franchise though there may be more than one of them. Located on 11th Street in Austin, TX, my local Obama Store (which is dedicated exclusively to Obama paraphernalia) feels like the culmination of the Barack Obama Graphic Phenomenon as evidenced by pure volume of merchandise. Printed matter holds a special place amongst the average person as commemorative objects and this election has generated an astounding quantity of “relics.”
We could dissect the motivations and implications of this commercial venture but I think I’d rather just share some images. Some of this stuff gets a little tangential to print but it’s worth seeing as part of the larger phenomenon. Follow the page break for a photo-tour. You can also read a little more here.
Posted by Jason Urban on October 13th, 2008 |  2000 Presidential Election Posters by Robbie Conal
Note that both candidates get equal treatment
There is an article in the Los Angeles Times today about painter and guerilla poster artist Robbie Conal. The story by Irene Lacher coincides with No Kicking, No Spitting, a Conal retrospective at Track 16 in Santa Monica, CA. Conal’s work has been critiquing politicians and media elite since the eighties; poster campaigns of his groteseque portraits have appeared on city streets (and in galleries) all over the country. With so many artists weighing in on politics these days, it’s interesting to look back at Conal’s prolific oeuvre.
Below is the short version of the 1992 documentary Post No Bills by Clay Walker and Maryanne Dissard. The documentary “foregrounds the tension between Conal’s creative process and the lures of a desperate notoriety achieved through catering to the newsmedia’s craving for controversy in his journey to benefit financially from the dual life of his work.”
In stark contrast to past works, a recent poster from Conal actually reads as an endorsement instead of critique! Can Obama be the first politician to dodge the wrath of Robbie Conal? I’d like to think it’s possible but I wouldn’t hold my breath.
Posted by Jason Urban on August 9th, 2008 |
There have been a number of interesting items over the past few weeks related to The Graphic Phenomenon that is the Barack Obama campaign for the presidency. For the sake of brevity, I’m just going to condense them into one post, even though any one of them could justify individual attention.
So to get started- just in time for Olympic fever, Obamagraphics have invaded Chinatown… most of the pics online are from San Francisco but I would guess these are in various Chinatowns nationwide. Made by Oakland-based designers at 5733, this poster/sticker campaign emphasizes the candidate’s cross-cultural appeal. The Chinese script translates to “forward” and has a retro-propaganda feel. The viewer looks up at a confident Obama arms crossed and sun rays beaming around him (btw- there is a great little blurb by Steven Heller in the most recent issue of Print that points out the rampant use of “sun rays” in advertising- once you start looking, you find them everywhere).
On July 17th, the Wall Street Journal ran a great article by Christina S.N. Lewis called Picturing Obama. The story details the rise in the collectability of Obama merch- in particular print/posters. It’s really worth a read. This must be a first, a presidential campaign that introduces people to the art market. From the article…
Knowledgeable collectors have already turned a profit by buying multiples. Tanley Wong, a 30-year-old consultant for Fannie Mae in Washington, D.C., owns 30 to 40 Obama art prints, including several of Mr. Fairey’s “Hope” prints, which were originally handed out at a rally at the University of California, Los Angeles. Mr. Wong, who has donated $1,000 to the Obama campaign, bought the posters for roughly $75 each on eBay from UCLA students and has subsequently resold some online for about $700 each.
and…
There appears to be little demand for art promoting Sen. John McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, art experts say. According to statistics from eBay, only six McCain-related art items sold on the site in the past 60 days, with an average selling price of $57. That’s compared with 889 Obama-related art items that have sold in the past 60 days, with an average selling price of $127. Of course McCain-related art sales may be lagging behind because there are fewer pieces available.
Speaking of Steven Heller, he’s written a piece for the New York Times called Stuck on Lapel Pins. He invited a number of designers to solve Obama’s lapel pin problem. In addition to Heller’s group, if you start looking around there are tons of DIY, artist-produced pins out there promoting his campaign.
And finally- this goes back to May. I never got around to posting it. Some Obamagraphics graffiti that for obvious reasons was covered most thoroughly by video game blogs. Apparently Grand Theft Auto IV promo posters in Los Angeles were “liberated” by Obama supporters to send a very different message. Obama’s face and message were wheat-pasted over the GTA ads. I like the idea of one print campaign attacking another like a virus. Photo credit goes to Luke Wahl…
Posted by Jason Urban on July 9th, 2008 | 
Geez. If this keeps up, Printeresting is going to have to assign a full-time writer to the presidential campaign. More political print/graphics in the news, this time in Boston. Ron English and Gallery XIV legally posted giant prints featuring an image of an Obama/Lincoln hybrid portrait. The comparison to Lincoln is not an entirely new one though this is the first time I’ve seen a literal juxtaposition of their two faces. The effect is somewhat jarring. From the Boston Globe…
English said he was born and raised in Illinois and is an Obama supporter. He said he wanted the image to serve as a springboard for conversation about Obama’s candidacy. “I believe Obama will take up Lincoln’s challenge of uniting the country,” English wrote. “This is the most excited I’ve ever been about a presidential candidate and I’m looking for ways that I can contribute as an artist and a citizen.” Some say the comparisons between Obama and Lincoln only go so far.
That last sentence is pretty funny.
The street installation has created controversy with neighborhood businesses and residents largely because of the influx of English fans, a number of whom have done some of their own illegal postings of the images around town. This brings up the issue raised in the last Obamagraphics post, namely, whether or not artists making propaganda without campaign oversight help or hurt the cause. Does Obama take flack for English’s zealous endorsement? Is any publicity good publicity?
(Thanks to RL for the links/story)
Posted by Jason Urban on July 6th, 2008 | Posters have gotten more mainstream media attention over the past couple of months thanks to some Barack Obama campaign posters (see prior posts: 1, 2, 3). A few days ago, the Bryant Park Project from NPR News aired a piece called Posters Show Obama as Superhero, Sun God, Saint. The eight-minute story is worth a listen.
 “Yes We Can” by artist Antar Dayal exists in an edition of 4800 (!) and is for sale on the Obama website.
NPR’s Mike Pesca speaks with Steve Seidman, a professor who has authored the forthcoming book Posters, Propaganda and Persuasion in Election Campaigns around the World and through History. The discussion is about the use of Obama’s image in a string of recent political posters and the degree to which it’s unusual in modern day politics for graphic representations of a politician to be incorporated into campaign materials. According to Seidman, since Walter Montdale’s campaign in 1988 there has a been shift towards “bumper sticker,” text-only posters. The Obama posters have been a break from this recent tradition. Critics of the posters site perceived similarities to Che Guevara, Joseph Stalin, and other controversial historical figures.
Pesca and Seidman raise some other interesting issues in the story: branding in politics, whether or not artists making propaganda without campaign oversight help or hurt the cause, and the pros and cons were McCain to release his own posters. There is much lip service paid to the political power of print and yet how often does it really enter the national debate? It’s exciting to see art & design having an impact on the discourse this election year…
9/3 UPDATE: Prof. Seidman has started a really great blog that discusses and analyzes Posters in Election Politics. The site is full of interesting historical references and contemporary analysis… Seidman is really dissecting image culture as it pertains to elections. Fantastic and worth a visit.
Posted by Jason Urban on May 21st, 2008 | Here’s a link a Washington Post story that provides a good summary.
Variations keep coming in… positive… and negative.
 
Continue reading “I Got a Crush… on Obama’s Poster” Part III
Posted by Jason Urban on May 11th, 2008 | 
Okay, so Shepard Fairey is the last artist to need more exposure and these Obama silkscreen posters have already made the blog rounds but I think they justify a post on Printeresting. Fairey’s Obama Progress poster (36″x 24″) was produced in an edition of 350 and sold out from his website before being released back in January. The Hope version of the poster (pictured above) was delivered directly to the Obama campaign for distribution. Fairey’s website has posted a thank you letter from Barack himself (one that seems to condone putting stickers on stop signs- could this be the next non-issue in the battle for the presidency?).
More recently, the poster has led to a sticker campaign (a la Obey). On April 10th the Obama website announced the release of the Hope stickers available for purchase through Stickerobot. Gee, I can’t imagine why Obama is getting the youth vote.
On a less topical note, it’s interesting to me that Shepard Fairey who is so famous as a guerilla street artist may be the closest thing we have to a mainstream printmaker.
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