The Story Behind the Iconic Obama Campaign Poster

The sto­ry behind the art­work that defined the Oba­ma cam­paign is a fas­ci­nat­ing one. Shep­ard Fairey’s posters achieved promi­nence much in the same way that Oba­ma did. They rose from the ground up. Every­day peo­ple sup­port­ed and pro­mot­ed his imag­i­na­tive posters on the web, until they became some­thing of a pub­lic phe­nom­e­non. And they turned the sta­tus quo — in this case, the tra­di­tion polit­i­cal poster — into some­thing fresh and new. In this inter­view (iTunes — Feed — Stream), Fairey, once a self-pro­claimed “out­law street artist,” talks about how got start­ed with his Oba­ma pieces, and how his most cel­e­brat­ed work end­ed up in the per­ma­nent col­lec­tion at the U.S. Nation­al Por­trait Gallery.

P.S. As you’ll see, we’re in the midst of launch­ing a new design. Things are going rather smooth­ly. But if you encounter any prob­lems, please be patient and please let us know. We’ll be mak­ing small tweaks here and there. Thanks!