The OBEY And MARTY Saga
Last week I let you know that Shepard Fairey was back in NYC and putting up a dozen or so new pieces. One of those pieces included an Obama Progress wheat paste on the corner of Bowery and Houston, right next to the new Keith Haring memorial. All seemed right in the world of NYC street art and Liberal politics, but oops… Shepard put his poster over NYC graf staple MARTY, who has been holding down that spot for years. When reached for comment Shepard had this to say: “I don’t like to go over people ever, however, I feel Obama being elected is very important to everyone’s future including MARTY’s. It was not intended to be disrespectful of him, but if he chooses to be that small minded and petty about it I can’t control that. I certainly would expect him to justly re-claim the spot after the election.” To no surprise MARTY, in true graf fashion, wasn’t having it and took his spot back ASAP. The kicker is that the take back was done in broad daylight in the middle of a nice sunny NYC afternoon (bad ass)! The Universe was back in order, until some art school morons came back just 4 hours later and buffed MARTY’s throwie off the Obama poster. This is the hot corner to watch for the next episode in this soap opera and the news is the spot to watch to see what happens to the three Obama lovers. Still despite all the beef and bad blood, I think the graf/street art world have been balanced again and I will be keeping an eye out for a SMART crew x OBEY production.
(Marty’s original throwie from 2006)
(Marty at work)
(Marty finishing up)
(Yokels getting involved in things they don’t understand)
Source: [Razor Apple]
