Shepard Fairey’s “OBAMA HOPE (1 of 3”), original?mixed media stencil collage on cotton rag paper, 4’ x 6’, 2008. 

With OBAMA mania running at full capacity, Hip-Hop culture mogul RUSSELL SIMMONS is offering one of official Barack Obama campaign artist SHEPARD FAIREY’s three original handmade fine art “Hope” editions in his annual ART FOR LIFE charity auction. Donated by the artist, Shepard’s mixed media stencil collage on cotton rag paper measures a whopping 4′ x 6′ and its sale benefits Simmons’ non-profit organization, Rush Philanthropic, that benefits the youth community of greater Manhattan through various arts-based charity outreach programs including the Rush Community Grants Program, Rush Arts Gallery and Resource Center, and Rush Kids among others (read more about it HERE). The bidding ends on July 16, 2008 12:16:00 PM (EDT), and as of Monday afternoon the going price was $40,000 USD. Give till it hurts…

(detail)

Barack Obama with Amanda and Shepard “Hussein” Fairey in LA…

While we assumed that Supertouch’s own SHEPARD FAIREY would be getting the official “First Artist” nod for his campaign artwork once BARACK OBAMA takes office, we’re as shocked as anyone to find out he’s chosen the LA street artist as his VP candidate (although Jesse Jackson was a front runner). The pair met in Hollywood last week for a covert strategy session where this photo was taken to commemorate the event. And no that’s not background noise in the photo, it’s stardust in the air. Well, actually, glitter. Obama is serious about his party favors…

Inspired by the popularity of Shepard’s “Hope” campaign posters, Barack has started a little stickering campaign of his own…

First Artist Shepard “Hussein” Fairey?… 

First the presumptive next president has a street artist with an arrest record cranking out his campaign artwork, now a legion of BARACK OBAMA’s most devoted supporters are adding his name into their own—sometimes legally—as an overt show of allegiance. The most common insertion is the inclusion of Obama’s controversially Muslim middle name “Hussein,” which has been a target of right wing attention since conservative radio host, Bill Cunningham, scornfully repeated Obama’s middle name three times while introducing John McCain at a campaign rally in February. A typical example of Obama’s newfound extended family: “My name is such a vanilla, white-girl American name,” said Ashley “Hussein” Holmes of Indianapolis, who changed her name online “to show how little meaning ‘Hussein’ really has.” READ ON: Read the rest of this entry »