Fairey Update: Former NY Times Art Director Declares "Fairey Is No Crook"

Author and blogger Steven Heller, a former art director at The New York Times and co-chair of the MFA Design Department at the School of Visual Arts, wrote a thoughtful critique of the criticism of Shepard Fairey’s use of artistic works in his artistic activism. Food for thought as the debate wages on.

Also check out the scathing 2007 essay by Mark Vallen, entitled "Obey Plagiarist Fairey," which accuses Fairey (pictured at left) of being nothing more than a plagiarist and asserts that "Fairey simply filches artworks and hopes that no one notices."

This Fairey brouhaha is important for the hip hop community because one can gather great insight into how courts may approach and (perhaps?) alter existing copyright law as it relates to fair use. So stay close.

- Tonya M. Evans