This will be my next tattoo. I’ve been a fan of Shepard Fairey since the mid to late ’90’s. That makes me late to the game for some, and way ahead to others. In fact, I’m willing to believe that there is nothing that is cool by the time I find out about it. Street art. Tattoos. Blogging. You can pretty much figure it has jumped the shark by the time I get to it. So my tattoo may not be a statement of cool. And it may not be by an emerging artist so much as a pretty established one. Even if he did start out making art in the street.
Of all Shepard’s work I have seen, this one is special to me because there is a sense of playfulness, peace, and power in a way that is different from most of his work. This work in some ways seems to step outside of the overtones of fighting repression or defying autocracy that much of his work plays with in one way or another. All that stuff is very good and important, and I dig him for it. This work seems to transcend that without devaluing it. The presence of the owl is curious too, since owls seem to keep showing up around my life.
Despite the fact that the work is going to be on my body for the rest of my life, I don’t think it pays to think too damn much about a tattoo. It’s art. It should be enjoyed. I like the art, I like my artist, Jay, and I am excited about the process. Hopefully, we will see some good things result.