In 2008, Shepard Fairey created a portrait supporting Barack Obama with the word “Progress” written across the bottom. The campaign then requested an officially sanctioned poster in the same style with Obama’s 2008 slogan “Hope,” as opposed to “Progress” which sounded “too Marxist.” Fairey distributed 500,000 “Hope” posters during Obama’s campaign, making it arguably the most well-known presidential campaign poster of all time. On December 8, 2010, only two years after the unveiling of Obama’s “Hope” portrait, Stephen Colbert asked artist Shepard Fairey “how are you feeling about that hope stuff now?” Fairey replied, “I’m proud of it as a piece of grassroots activism but I’ll just leave it at that.” Even as recently as 2015, six years after the campaign, Esquire asked Fairey if Obama’s presidency lived up to the poster to which he replied, “Not even close”.
This begs the question: If we had so much “Hope” eight years ago, why are we now facing a “Demagogue?”
Shepard Fairey’s iconic portrait of President Barack Obama is now hanging at the US National Portrait gallery in Washington DC. We all recognize the image; it is timeless. Art critic Peter Schjeldahl called the poster, “The most efficacious American political illustration since ‘Uncle Sam Wants You.’” It has become a symbol for the future, and yet, it is in the past. Obama is no longer in office, but his message of “Hope” still lingers. In 2016, Shepard Fairey unveiled a portrait of the new President, and the message was not quite as hopeful. In this portrayal, Trump is facing downwards almost as if he is to be spitting on the American people. When Fairey’s portrait of Trump is juxtaposed against his portrait of Obama, an American drama of epic proportions is revealed. In 2008, America had “Hope” under Obama, eight years later, Americans are being spit on by a “Demagogue.” Ultimately, Fairey’s newest works are bringing optimism and promise to the American people, while Obama’s “Hope” can now be perceived as rather somber.
Will Trump’s “Demagogue” poster be hung in the US National Portrait gallery? If so, I hope the “Demagogue” is placed directly next to “Hope” where he belongs. They represent a timeline of our mentality, an eight-year journey from hope to despair. If we take a step back and read the story through these portraits, we may consider that Fairey is great at capturing a snapshot of American emotion.
Shepard Fairey’s “Hope” now lies in “We the People”.
Excellent article. I wish we would see Fairey’s posters of Trump and We the People around, particularly the last We the People, Are Greater Than Fear. I will always remember the wonderful Hope. How it completely captures the warm, peaceful, capable, intelligent man that he is.
Thank you for your thoughtful comments I could not agree more. Love the idea of side by side poster We the People are greater then fear next to Trump excellent.