Shepard Farey ( Obey ) - Mujer Fatale
24 x 36 inches
lithograph on cream Speckle Tone paper.
The masked woman, her face covered and partially shaded, is mysterious. She looks directly at the viewer with determination. Her ethnicity is undetermined; the viewer can project their identity on the figure. The use of the word “Mujer,” “woman” in Spanish, and the mask is a nod to the Zapatista movement in Southern Mexico, and armed anti-globalization group that rebelled against the Mexican government demanding indigenous rights and democracy. The eyes remind Fairey of Emma Peel, played by Diana Rigg, the heroine in the 1960’s television program, The Avengers. The work is a celebration of feminity, as audacious and assertive women portrayed in 1960’s spy films. In 2005 Shepard and his wife Amanda became parents. As the father of two daughters and married to a woman with a strong character, Fairey addressed sexism by rendering images of powerful, defiant women. His portraits of women are in part of a projection of his daughters, a reflection of his wife and an assault on historical portrayals of women appearing nude, powerless, and submissive.
Frank “Shepard Fairey” is a very famous graphic artist, muralist, and overall artist. He was born on February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States.
Shepard Fairey is one of the most influential street artists of our time. Shepard Fairey’s work has been used in screen-prints, stencils, stickers, masking film illustrations, wheat paste, collages, sculptures, posters, paintings, and murals. Shepard Fairey enjoys working with the colors black, white, and red. Fairey has constantly shifted between the realms of fine art, commercial art, street art, and even political art.