Stuart Noble RIP

My long time friend Stuart Noble was struck by a car and killed while crossing the street in Pasadena Friday night. I will miss him tremendously.    I met Stuart in 1999 on my first trip to London. Stuart was a partner in a flyer distribution and promotions company called Don’t Panic! Don’t Panic curated an art poster supplement that was distributed with the flyers. I think their goal was to mix art and commerce. I was offered the Don’t Panic art poster as a means of promoting my London art show, but I had to drive straight from the airport to their offices and work on the art in order to meet their print deadline. Stuart and the rest of the Don’t Panic! crew were very enthusiastic about the design I made.  Stuart then offered for me to tag along to put up posters as he drove the Don’t Panic! delivery van around London dropping off flyers. Stuart was on the job, so I wanted to respect his time, but I kept seeing good spots, so I would ask him if we had a second to pull over. The answer was always “yes!” and as he started to understand my modus operandi he would drive out of his way to take me to great spots. Stuart and I bonded intensely while driving all over London. Thanks to Stuart, I poster bombed from Brixton to Camden. Stuart also promoted my art show to his friends and brought a ton of people to the opening. My first London trip was a big success, largely because of Stuart’s support.

Fundraiser for TEMPT ONE this Saturday in LA

SAVE THE DATE!!! Fundraiser for “Tempt One” screening the long-awaited, Getting Up: The Tempt One Story. June 1st, 2013, 5-10pm Downton Independent Cinema. 251 S. Main St. LA CA 90012. Art Auction, Guest DJ and Black Book signing.

The film is GREAT!

Words grossly underserve me in describing “Getting Up”, a film about lives driven by images and creativity. Tempt had graffiti art, his life’s greatest passion, taken from him by the disease ALS. “Getting Up” tells the story of how Tempt, with his own strength of spirit, determination, and the creativity of his friends, was enabled to create art again. This film celebrates a triumph of mind over matter and it made me weep… which despite being a sensitive artsy type, I don’t do very often. The inspiration, compassion, and generosity demonstrated in this film is will make an impression on even those with the most cynical view of humanity.
-Shepard Fairey

Click for more

One week left – MATTHEW STONE : Subliminal Projects

SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS & BRITWEEK present

MATTHEW STONE: Ecstasy

Exhibition closes June 1, 2013

In conjunction with Britweek, SUBLIMINAL PROJECTS is proud to present an exhibition of new work by British artist Matthew Stone. Matthew Stone describes himself as an artist and shaman, existing as a photographer, sculptor, performance artist, curator, writer, optimist and cultural provocateur.

Click for more

Los Angeles, We need to VOTE!

The Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act

The biggest banks in the country—the ones that wrecked our economy and cost millions of Americans their jobs—pay next to nothing on the debt they owe the government, while students pay nine times as much. That isn’t right.

That’s why I’ve introduced the Bank on Students Loan Fairness Act to let students take advantage of the same low rates offered to banks for one year while Congress finds a fair, long-term solution on student loan interest rates.

Will you add your voice in support of giving students the same deal as big banks? Click here to sign the petition.

The interest rate on federal subsidized Stafford student loans is set to increase from 3.4% to 6.8% on July 1st. If Congress doesn’t act soon, millions of college students will see their student loan payments jump.

Some argue that it’s too expensive to keep government loans at low interest rates, but the federal government makes low interest loans all the time—just not to everyone. Big banks can borrow money through the Federal Reserve discount window at a rate of about 0.75%.

That’s why I started a petition on MoveOn’s petition site which says:

Wall Street banks—the ones that wrecked our economy—should not be getting a better interest rate on their government loans than young people trying to go to college.

Click here to add your name to this petition, and then pass it along to your friends.

Unlike the big banks, students don’t have armies of lobbyists and lawyers. But they do have us.

Let’s do what’s right and bank on students.

Thanks!

–Elizabeth Warren, U.S. Senator

This petition was created on MoveOn’s online petition site, where anyone can start their own online petitions. Senator Elizabeth Warren didn’t pay us to send this email—we never rent or sell theMoveOn.org list.

Lawrence Lessig: We the People, and the Republic we must reclaim

Lawrence Lessig, who I met in early 2009, educated me about the need for campaign finance reform to keep government, and in turn, the law from favoring corporate interests over the interests of average citizens. Lessig is brilliant and sincere. Please take the time to check out his point of view. His organization Rootstrikers is doing great work!

At the beginning of April, TED posted the talk I gave at their annual conference. In the six weeks since, more than 800,000 people have viewed it across the TED platform and YouTube.

I’ve been doing this for a long time, but nothing I’ve ever done has spread like this.

So two weeks ago, I spoke at the TEDxYouth event in Chicago. I began that talk in a similar way, with the same argument about the corruption our government suffers. But then I ended that talk by giving the talk away — to them. Each of the 500 students in the audience got a thumb drive with the slides and the background information of the talk. Each thumb drive had a copy of the TED video, and the book I produced for that video. And I challenged those students to take that material, and remix it to tell this story in a way that would be compelling to them and their peers…

Click for more

Shepard designs the cover for Damien Echols’ book “Life After Death”

I was first made aware of the West Memphis Three murder case through Henry Rollins’ Rise Above fundraiser CD. I knew wrongful conviction of three teenage boys who wore black was a cause worth learning more about because Rollins is always on the side of due diligence and justice. When I watched the Paradise Lost documentary I was convinced that Damien Echols and his co-defendants were innocent. I donated art to a fundraiser designed to fund DNA tests that could prove their innocence (or confirm their guilt). The evidence in the case had been mishandled and the West Memphis police were reluctant to cooperate and denied the case had been mishandled. DNA evidence finally exonerated the West Memphis Three after 18 years in prison. I can’t imagine losing 18 years in jail for a false conviction, but the West Memphis Three might still be in prison if it were not for the consistent pressure by diligent truth seekers like Henry Rollins and many others. I was incredibly honored to be able to help design the cover for Damien Echols’ book “Life After Death” along with my co-worker Casey Ryder.  Check out the book  to hear the compelling story from Damien Echols’ perspective.

Migration is beautiful / Support Immigration Reform

America is a land of diversity with a rich history of embracing immigration. Almost any American can trace their family roots to immigrants. Often our ancestors migrated to escape prejudices in their homeland and to find a better life. Current immigration laws do not reflect our shared values, nor do they reflect the realities of our modern world. They all too often separate parents from their children and criminalize those seeking a better way of life. We call upon Congress to put forth an Immigration Reform Bill that leaves no one out and provides a roadmap to citizenship for all 11 million undocumented immigrants. Let’s live up to our highest ideals of democracy and freedom. Check out my friend Favianna Rodriguez’s Migration is Beautiful image and please share.
-Shepard Fairey