Considering his street roots it's hard to believe Shepard Fairey's dominance over the art world. I love Obey's genesis and the Obama portrait as much as the next gal, but let's be honest, the man's no artist. A cultural revolutionary? Yes. A genius marketer? Yes. An extraordinary illustrator? Yes. But calling him a fine artist is the stretch that broke the elastic.
Even so, the buzz around Fairy's "May Day" opening at Deitch Projects is immense. Too bad the space is more inspiring than the show itself. It's clear Jeffrey Deitch feels he's done enough to refine contemporary art and simply wanted the coolest party of the year to close out his gallery forever before taking the reigns as the director of MOCA in Los Angeles.
The exhibition was actually much more interesting in January at Jef Aerosol's first New York show, "All Shook Up," after a 30+ year career in public art. Aerosol's iconic stencils of Biggie, John Lennon and Jean-Michel Basquiat spoke bigger messages off of Ad Hoc/Eastern District's walls in Bushwick than almost the same images did in Soho.
Here, at the May Day show, the portraits are tired. They make you wonder how Fairy didn't just kill it. You know, come up with something huge to let everyone know that it's not only hype that puts him on top. Any artist would do cartwheels to show in Deitch's Wooster Street gallery, and it's like he put as little thought into it as he could. The party might have been a blasting way to close out the gallery but was the work worth such a honored moment in New York art history? After all, the most interesting thing I saw during the visit was Jeffery Deitch closing a deal. But that's hard to live up to even when the work is stellar.
A treat out of all the hoopla is a new presence in Gussa. The artist smacked a big smiling face across the street from Deitch on Wooster. Maybe as a warning of what was to come. Later the same happy rainbow-face covered and incorporated one of Obey's numerous promotional posters in Brooklyn.
Jeffrey Deitch and Biggie - New York, NY - May 2010
Martha Cooper shot painted by Obey - New York, NY - May 2010
Gussa Obey Cover-Up - Brooklyn, NY - May 2010
Gussa welcomes Obey on Wooster - New York, NY - May 2010
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