Dear Obey,

Hi, I’m Caitlin. I emailed you guys about a month ago about an Obey-influenced mural that some kids and I painted in our school. It was three yellow and green Andre the Giant faces with eyepatches and mustaches (our mascot was a pirate so that’s how we made him look like one). However, now I am emailing you to tell you about the other Obey-influenced mural we painted in our school. Yup. We have two.

Every year, the senior AP Art History/AP Studio class gets to paint a permanent mural on one of the walls of our high school, West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South. The mural is based off of a piece by a famous artist and their style. It’s always “piratized” in a way though because we have to relate the mural to our school some how, so we include pirates and anything that relates. Murals that passed years have put up have been based off of Andy Warhol, Litchenstein, Magritte, Chuck Close, Michaelangelo, and now, Shepard Fairey.

Attached to this email you will find photos of our finished mural. I think there was about 10-13 of us working on it. It took us about a month and some time after that to finish it. We actually just finished it yesterday. Anyways, the medium is paint. We know that Shepard wheat pastes his murals, and we did consider doing that. But we weren’t sure how long it would last if we collaged it, and it is permanent, so we painted everything trying to mimick his style. We chose our favorites and the pieces we thought were important, we made up our own patterns, and then we “piratized” them. Our school colors are green and gold, but we knew that one of the distinct characteristics about Shepard’s work is the colors he chooses to use, so as you can see in the photos, we kept them to red, cream, black, white, and a hit of gold.

Shepard’s work, and Obey altogether, has been a huge influence on me personally, and I believe everyone who worked on this mural. We really really do hope that whoever reads this email shows Mr. Fairey. If he does read this himself, that’s even better. A response would be greatly appreciated too! Although we know how busy you are, so no rush! But we’re one of the few classes that actually has the opportunity to possibly get in touch with and show the artist our work, so you have to admit, it would be really cool to know that he’s seen it.

Hope to hear from you soon! Keep on making stellar art. Always.

Peace & Love,
Caitlin McCann (and everyone who worked on our mural)