Is Shepard Fairey Really Going Blind?

Good thing he has all those stencils.

(really though, that's a downer if it is true)

Bad news for him, good news for us.

He's got really severe diabetes - blindness being one of the side effects of same, so very possibly.

Revealed: Details of Shepard Fairey criminal investigation

Recently unsealed legal briefs filed by Shepard Fairey reveal that the Los Angeles artist is the "subject" of a federal criminal investigation for "potential violations" of laws prohibiting evidence tampering and perjury. According to a motion filed by Fairey seeking to postpone his deposition in the civil copyright dispute with the Associated Press over the "Obama Hope" poster, a federal grand jury is investigating whether Fairey violated 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512(c) and 1621. Section 1512 makes it a crime to "corruptly...alter[], destroy[], mutilate[], or conceal[] a record, document, or other object, or attempt[] to do so, with the intent to impair the object’s integrity or availability for use in an official proceeding; or...otherwise obstruct[], influence[], or impede[] any official proceeding, or attempts to do so." Violations carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years, though sentencing guidelines usually call for considerably less than the maximum. Section 1621 is the federal perjury statute, which provides for a maximum sentence of five years.

Fairey admitted last October that he had "submitted false images" to the AP during the civil discovery process "and deleted other images" in an effort to mislead the AP as to which photo he used as the basis for the iconic poster, which became ubiquitous during the 2008 campaign. It was revealed in a court hearing January 26 that Fairey faced a criminal investigation over his actions, but the specifics were not known until his briefs in support of his motion to postpone his deposition were unsealed. On January 27, Judge Alvin Hellerstein denied Fairey's motion to postpone or limit the deposition until the earlier of the conclusion of the investigation or six months.

Fairey indicated that he has been advised by his criminal counsel to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination during the deposition and refuse to answer questions about the submission of false evidence and destruction of relevant material. "If Mr. Fairey is compelled to testify and exercises his Fifth Amendment rights per his criminal counsel’s advice, the consequences of invoking those rights would severely impair his ability to defend this case on the merits — and this Court’s ability to resolve it on the merits," states the brief. Fairey acknowledges that if he does invoke his right to refuse to answer questions, the jury in the copyright case "will be free to draw adverse inferences against him on issues crucial in this litigation, in which he faces counterclaims for bankrupting damages." Again in his reply brief, Fairey warns that his refusal to answer questions at his depo "could lead to crippling liability against him based on adverse inferences rather than the facts."

And in a rather extraordinary passage, Fairey concedes that he likely faces sanctions in the civil case for his admitted wrongdoing and may face indictment:

Mr. Fairey has already admitted engaging in misconduct and accepts that he will face sanctions by the Court at a later stage of this case. But his error, however serious, should not force him to choose between abandoning his Fifth Amendment rights and forfeiting his right to testify in this civil action and to defend the action on the merits. Of course, the Court can impose sanctions upon Mr. Fairey if it deems them appropriate, and the U.S. Attorney can choose to file criminal charges against him.

"But," he argues, "the triple punishment of potentially crippling civil liability — based not on the merits, but on his inability to testify during this particular brief period — would be unjust."

Fairey's brief also reveals that last Nov. 9, federal prosecutors in New York served subpoenas on Fairey, his wife Amanda, and several of Fairey's businesses. The brief also accuses the AP of "playing an ongoing role in encouraging charges against Mr. Fairey, through continuing communications with the U.S. Attorney’s Office that go beyond merely responding to a grand jury subpoena." (The AP's brief, whose arguments prevailed, has also been unsealed but is not available on PACER.)

the AP has a posse

Shepard Fairey vs. his wife vs. TMZ

http://www.juice.com.sg/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/obey.jpg

I don't understand any of this

cpk @ lax is hella expensive

Goddammit I hate TMZ so much. Like, even if this is a story, I don't know it's a story because they make my brain go RAGGGGGHH TURN IT OFF

There was a scene in Exit Through The Gift Shop where Shepard falls off a ladder and then this metal hangy thing falls and lands on top of him. If you like people falling down, it's hilarious!

Shepard Fairey beaten up after spat over controversial Danish mural

(the pull quote from this is "go home, Yankee hipster")

When graffiti artist Shepard Fairey turned his talents to US politics, his reward was international acclaim and a letter of thanks from Barack Obama. When he employed a similar tactic in Denmark, however, the response proved altogether less edifying.

Last weekend, Fairey – creator of the famous "Hope" poster that came to encapsulate Obama's 2008 presidential campaign – was beaten up after the opening of his exhibition at a Copenhagen gallery.

Earlier this month he was involved with a controversial mural that has enraged leftwing anarchists throughout the city.

"I have a black eye and a bruised rib," Fairey told the Guardian.

According to reports, 41-year-old Fairey and his colleague Romeo Trinidad were punched and kicked by at least two men outside the Kodboderne 18 nightclub in the early hours of last Saturday morning. Fairey claims the men called him "Obama illuminati" and ordered him to "go back to America".

The LA-based artist believes the attack was sparked by a misunderstanding over his mural commemorating the demolition of the legendary "Ungdomshuset" (youth house) at Jagtvej 69. The building, a long-term base for Copenhagen's leftwing community, was controversially demolished in 2007. In the intervening years it has become a potent symbol of the standoff between the establishment in Copenhagen and its radical fringe.

Fairey's installation, painted on a building adjacent to the vacant site, depicted a dove in flight above the word "peace" and the figure "69". But the mural appeared to reopen old wounds, with critics accusing Fairey of peddling government-funded propaganda.

"The city council is using the painting – directly or indirectly – to decorate the crater-like lot at Jagtvej 69," said local activist Eskil Andreas Halberg in a letter to Modkraft, a leftwing news website. "The art is being used politically to end the conflict in a certain way: 'we're all friends now, right?'"

Within a day of completion, the mural was vandalised by protesters, with graffiti sending messages of "no peace" and "go home, Yankee hipster". Fairey subsequently collaborated with former members of the 69 youth house to redecorate the lower half of the installation. His new version contains images of riot police and explosions, together with a new, more combative slogan: "Nothing forgotten, nothing forgiven".

yeah I just saw this, very funny too.

depicted a dove in flight above the word "peace" and the figure "69"
vs.
images of riot police and explosions, together with a new, more combative slogan: "Nothing forgotten, nothing forgiven"

wtf lol "oops, neeever mind!"

The URL says it all: http://www.theawl.com/2012/10/is-shepard-fairey-the-next-thomas-kinkade