I read your open letter and thought to myself, what luck! Not only has this kind fellow saved me the arduous task of trying to fabricate some sort of relevant resume, but it also appears that he wants to hire someone just like me! Using my famed powers of deduction, I have determined that you are looking for someone without any sort of applicable education or experience, who enjoys a nice front desk and photos of your dog, and who didn’t get much of an allowance as a kid. Or when you were a kid. I’m not exactly sure. Regardless- I think I’m your gal!

Due to a recent inflammation of my chronic unemployment, I have plenty of free time these days and I’ve been trying to find someone to teach me how to screen print. I considered starting a band and using said band to trick you into teaching me your ways, but the kids I found on Craigslist blew me off when they saw my RockBand drum set. Perhaps you would be willing to consider a trade? Are you are interested in a closet full of gently worn Avail and Action Patrol tee-shirts from the mid-nineties? I may be willing to negotiate the inclusion of several patches and stickers, but would have to think about it for a while.

Let me know if this sounds good to you, but please don’t try to get in touch between 9AM and 5PM, because that’s when I sit by the phone and wait for the Martin Agency to return my calls.

Sincerely,
Liz

http://www.myartspace.com/blog/2009/02/jamie-oshea-obeys-shepard-fairey-by.html

I have to agree with Sherwin. Many of Fairey’s references are not fair use. To be fair use the images by Fairey have to comment on or parody the work that is being referenced and the majority of the public must be able to make that connection when viewing the art. Viewers should be able to know what is being commented on or parodied if fair use is done in the way it should be. Anything else is infringement.

Fairey has referenced works by artists and photographers that are not widely known so it is not fair use. People did not make the connection that Fairey was commenting on Mannie Garcia’s photograph of Obama with Hope just like they did not know he was commenting on a poster by Rene Mederos when selling shirts with a slightly altered version of the Mederos poster. (he settled out of court on that one)

If Shep used Mickey Mouse or the Pepsi label people would make the connection and it would be fair use. (but he would not use a Pepsi label anyways since Pepsi is one of his clients). That is how fair use and parts of fair use like transformative works work. Fairey just finds a cool image and uses it look at how he used the SS skull on a shirt and did not even realize that it was the SS skull until he tried to sue Walmart for copyright infringement because they infringed on his copyright of the skull.

SuperTouch and the ObeyGiant site claim that Fairey is open about where he has referenced from because some of that info is in the Supply and Demand book. That is a poor defense to use for fair use because people should not have to pay $59.95 for a book about Fairey’s art just to be able to find out the connection in his work. That is not how fair use works and I’m glad people are starting to point it out!

The only reason Jamie O Shea wrote the SuperTouch critique of Mark Vallen’s Fairey critique is because two blog posts on the Boston Globe site just brought Mark Vallen’s critique back into the spot light. Like Sherwin says it looks like they are just trying to do damage control before Fairey’s big solo exhibit.