When ARTINFO spoke with Shepard Fairey this week, he took a moment to vent about the usual coverage of him in the media: that it’s sensationalist and attention-grabbing, and lures people in with flashy headlines and drama (Fairey’s a Plagiarist! Fairey Arrested!). But is what the increasingly popular artist, currently being celebrated in a touring midcareer retrospective now at the Institute for Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston, does with his art — distractingly graphic, alluring, and oh so easy on the eye — so different? He admits here that he uses his skills as an artist to bring to people’s attention issues they might not have explored on their own. The distinction, perhaps, is that while the media are trying to “get eyeballs on” their products, as he says, Fairey really does seem motivated by ideals (that public space should be reclaimed from advertisers) and causes (in the last year he’s done work for everything from MoveOn.org to Feeding America to Adopt-a-Pet) rather than profit or fame. Not that he hasn’t earned both.

His latest project is a poster, created in the same style as his ubiquitous Obama Hope image, of Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese dissident and rightful, democratically elected leader of the Southeast Asian country, who is currently under house arrest, and has been in and out of house arrest and prison since 1988. ARTINFO spoke to Fairey about the poster, the cause, and the power of art.

How did you get involved with Aung San Suu Kyi’s cause?

I heard through a friend that Jack Healey, head of the Human Rights Action Center, was making this big push to raise awareness about Aung San Suu Kyi. I had a peripheral knowledge of the situation, and I’ve done work related to the genocide in Darfur, and a lot of people had said that it’s sort of the underreported Darfur, so I met with him and said I’d be happy to work on it.

Everything that Suu Kyi embodies is very positive; she’s a symbol. The monks in Burma who were nonviolently protesting were violently suppressed — it’s an oppressive regime, and the word needs to get out. I think there aren’t quite the same ingredients to inspire the dramatic level of interest that’s happened in other places — like Iran, where there’s the nuclear weapons issue and also oil — but it’s equally important.

What effect do you think your poster might have on raising awareness?

The power of art is that it makes people wonder what the motivation behind it was. Suu Kyi is a very beautiful woman who I think physically embodies what she stands for philosophically — optimism and a passion — and I tried to convey that with my image. I’m trying at least to shed light on the issue for my audience, though I hope it will become viral and do more than that.

I imagine that a lot of people who follow you and your work are not familiar with Suu Kyi’s story.

I definitely think that’s true, and that’s the great thing about art. In life, it seems like people would rather have the pleasurable escapism — eat the junk food rather than the vegetables — but with art, you can make an image that people are attracted to purely for aesthetic reasons that might lead to an investigation with a little more substance.

Some people say that I oversimplify complex things and make a nifty poster and try to be cool. That’s a very pessimistic viewpoint, but also I think it’s not accurate to say that most people want to find out about issues because they actually give a shit and want to expand their minds. They need to develop an association with something on their own terms, and then decide to investigate, rather than being told, “This is what you should care about.”

Can you tell me a little bit about the imagery that you used here?

I chose to license an image as the reference, which I embellished a bit, from Reuters.

Not from the AP?

No, not the AP [laughs]. I chose not to create any legal complications based on the source photo.

In the work, she’s wearing the national flower of Burma, which is the golden flower, and I also saw some references where she had a rose in her hair, so I added both. I also took cues from some of the pro-democracy, pro-freedom Burmese posters where the dove of peace is a fairly pervasive symbol. I really just tried to make it about the idea that there are human rights violations there and that she’s positive, that she should be the leader — she was democratically elected — and the people want her, they want democracy, and that’s what the international community should push for.

To me she also looks a little like Eva Perón. Was that intentional?

I like that association. I didn’t think of it, but that’s what’s amazing about art, once it’s been abstracted to a degree that the Rorschach test-like associations occur, and that’s how each individual viewer is able to personalize things in their experience.

You mentioned the AP, and I wanted to ask — it seems like you’ve had a lot of run-ins with the law as of late. So on the one hand you’re working with and for all these great causes, and on the other you’re fighting all these battles yourself. What’s it like to have both of those things going on?

Well, the AP case was very unexpected, considering that the image is transformative and there’s a clear paper trail of it not being created for profit. And it’s definitely a positive cause — unless the AP happens to dislike Obama. I was also very surprised that I was arrested in Boston [on his way to DJ a party at the ICA] without any physical evidence of me doing anything illegal.

I’ve acknowledged doing street art over the years and bending the rules. It’s a very important part of my philosophy that art be accessible to the public and that the public have a forum for expression that’s not just based on advertising; that the exchange of ideas can be done in public. What happened in Boston was based on the idea that the museum legitimizing my work was going to create a domino effect and every house in Boston was going to be spray-painted on by the time the dust had settled. That was a fear-based, irrational supposition on the part of the Boston police. But I also understand that there’s some community pressure, that a lot of people do worry about street art or graffiti marring historic sites. That’s never been my MO, but they’re worried about me as a symbol.

I’m actually really bogged down with a lot of this stuff, and it’s frustrating, but it’s not going to stop me from doing things I care about. Everything is a lesson. I adjust my approach to things based on my experiences and will always try to find a constructive way to achieve what I want to achieve.

What else do you have coming up?

I’ve been working on a lot of different things for different causes. One is a green-energy project with moveon.org. I created an image of windmills in an all-American Western landscape, and I’m really trying to cement the idea of it being patriotic to create alternative energy that will allow us to be both ethical and economic leaders. I think it’s an issue that the left and the right — the tree-hugging hippies and the cultural imperialists — can agree on: that pioneering forms of energy that will save the planet, and that the rest of the world will have to buy the technology from us, is a win-win.

I understand you’re having a second shot in Boston.

Yeah, since I got arrested on the way to DJ last time. We’re having a closing party [for the ICA show] on July 31 with me, DJ Z-Trip, and Chuck D from Public Enemy. It’s an amazing convergence of art, politics, and music that’s sort of the recipe I think is the most powerful and exciting in all the world.

What are you going to play?

I’m going to play a lot of the music that I love and that is by people I did portraits of that are in the show. So I have my hip-hop pioneers and punk-rock pioneers series, and Bowie and Johnny Cash. People I’ve made portraits of because I loved the art they created and their politics, or aspects of their politics. That’s going to be how I craft my set: a blend of music that gives you visceral pleasure, with a message. It’s the audio version of good art.

That sounds like how you describe your art.  

I’ve said in many interviews over the years that if there was a model I was following as a visual artist, it was probably one part Warhol and nine parts Public Enemy, the Clash, and Black Flag.

It’s nice to actually talk with you about your work, because we usually just have your latest arrest or whatever on the site.

You know, I understand why there’s been such a sensational interest in that: “Oh, is Shepard Fairey a plagiarist?” And then they throw some loaded words around: “Did he steal a photo?” “He got arrested.” Drama comes before content. But you’re working in the machine, so you know that, right? People need eyeballs on their Web site or their magazine or their TV show, and drama has the power to attract people; people love the lurid traffic accident that they can’t help but slow down and look at. I get it, but it’s disappointing that it can overshadow a lot of the substance of what I’m trying to do. I work really hard at trying to support good things, and when people say, “Oh, his entire career is bullshit because he steals everything,” it’s extremely hurtful and disappointing.

Sure. But I like to think that we don’t have that approach.

Yeah, certain people are less prone to the drama than others. I’m not saying you’re Fox News or something. But I’m taking my opportunity to vent.

Fairey's Aung San Suu Kyi poster can be found at his Web site, obeygiant.com. Proceeds go to the Human Rights Action Center and the U.S. Campaign for Burma.