shepard fairey promotes SMS restoration plans during venice art bienniale 09

image © shepard fairey

graphic designer shepard fairey will be in venice until june 7 to create murals and works of art, which will finance the restoration campaign promoted by SMS venice, an organization dedicated to the preservation of the artistic and architectural heritage of the city.

shepard fairy will create murals in campo santa margherita and piazza san marco, this work will be sold at auction and proceeds donated to SMS venice. this year’s goals are the restoration of the city’s rialto bridge and three historic churches: san giorgio maggiore, san giuseppe, and the chiesa dei gesuiti.

image © carlo s. benevento

fairey is a los angeles based street artist, known worldwide for having created the image of the red, white and blue campaign of barack obama ‘hope’, which has become an icon of the current american political revolution. fairey’s obama image has been sold on hundreds of thousands of stickers and posters but the artist is embroiled in a dispute with the associated press over whether he illegally used a copyrighted AP photo to produce his obama poster.