Jason Filipow and I met at a skateboard contest in 1986. I dug his style on a skateboard and also soon realized that he was one of the only other people at my school who made stencils. We bonded over skateboarding, punk music, and art. We have been friends ever since. The picture of Jason in the sunglasses was taken in 1988 in Washington D.C. I hand drew the Bad Brains tee with a sharpie by me mixing graphics from their ROIR cassette release and their third album I Against I. I gave Jason the shirt because he said he liked it.

Fast forward to 2004 and I hired Jason to come work for my design studio, and to help me as a fine art assistant. Jason’s help has been invaluable to my progression for many reasons. Since 1986 we have shared a love of many of the same art processes and frequently discussed art theory. I trusted Jason’s opinion, and many aspects of my art evolution were critiqued by Jason. Jason also helped with collage and stencil work that allowed me the freedom to work as a fine artist and graphic designer simultaneously. Without an assistant of Jason’s calibre, aspects of my art or design would have suffered due to lack of time for both. Like George Martin was the guy behind the scenes helping the Beatles sound amazing, Jason has been the guy behind the scenes helping me realize my potential. Well, Tomorrow is Jason’s last day as my full time assistant. He is going to go out on his own to realize his potential as an artist and designer. I can only hope that Jason will achieve all of his dreams to the extent he has helped me achieve mine. As a coincidence, but a fitting twenty year landmark, Jason’s last project for me involves helping to prepare a 12 by 14 foot Obey Bad Brains tribute mural. Jason and I have both said that we do the same things we did in high school, just bigger, and now we get paid for it. Thanks for everything Jason. I’ll miss having a co-worker I have so much history with, who can finish my sentences with Big Lebowski, Spinal Tap, Fargo, or Dodgeball quotes. Good luck.

-Shepard

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Everyone here at OBEY is very disappointed in those who chose to auction their Obama posters, especially their STREET PASTERS on EBAY. A great deal of effort was made by our small crew to get as many posters as possible out on the streets to support the OBAMA campaign before the Primaries. Despite the EBAY screenprint auctions, we decided to basically give away OBAMA posters to people all over the country to help bring awareness. It looks like we were naive in believing that people would be true and do what they actually said they would do. All those that received these street pasters knew that they were not to be auctioned on EBAY or sold anywhere else. Its extremely discouraging when we intentionally make Shep’s art obtainable and affordable for all and in turn are exploited and taken advantage of by GREEDY people. We put 100% of the poster proceeds back into the Obama campaign.

Unfortunately, from here on out we will have to be more cautious in how we conduct our business and with whom. We are still actively checking EBAY for auctions and taking aggressive action against those that continue to take advantage. We stand by what we believe and say and are proud of our mission to keep OBEY accessible to all. A new offset Obama print is going for sale to generate additional revenue to pay for posters for more markets yet to hold primaries. Also, we’d like to make the Obama image accessible at reasonable prices. Don’t reward the ebay vultures!

So on Thursday we are going to be releasing 600, 24×36, signed and numbered HOPE offsets on thick stock at a random time. Prints can be purchased HERE. This offset prints will be $30, 1 per customer/household.

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I’ll keep my soap box oration short and to the point. The news during the current administration has frequently been depressing. Below are a couple articles you should read. One is about the Bush administration supporting torture in the form of simulated drowning as a viable interrogation technique. The other article is about U.S. soldiers in Iraq who murdered an Iraqi civilian who stumbled upon their sniper nest while he was going to get water. They then planted an AK-47 on his body. The soldier’s attorney is making the argument that this sort of thing is common in Iraq and why should these guys be punished? These news stories make me feel ashamed that I’m an American who’s tax dollars support the people who perpetrate these things. This leads to the last photo of the Obama supporter(holding my poster design). Just like the poster says, this gives me HOPE. Hope that young people can make a difference. Hope that a new president who believes in human rights can make the U.S. something to be proud of again. I think there has not been a more important time in my lifetime to be politically engaged. Please pay attention to what is happening and think about what you’d like to happen for your future. If November goes well maybe we can return to a larger dose of our regular programming of nice pictures.

-Shepard

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With the win of four more states and the Virgin Islands, Obama’s campaign momentum is growing… and so is our poster campaign. The posters have made appearances all over the streets as well as in the TV news and the LA Times. Word up!

-Shepard

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The times they are a-changing. So, we at SWINDLE want to evolve, too. Issue 15 marks the unveiling of our newly redesigned layout. We’ve made the text more engaging, we’ve standardized the fonts, and added two regular columns: James Gaddy’s Classic Graphics delves into the history of iconic logos, and Henry Rollins gives us Dispatches from the Territories. We’ve got a feature on stunt doubles, who risk their lives in anonymity to make movie stars look badass; Doug Pray’s first-person account of making his latest feature documentary, Big Rig; the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s “School of Popular Painting,” an elite group of artists who showcase the thriving urban culture of their country’s capital, Kinshasa; and a fashion spread that is an ode to ‘80s group Strawberry Switchblade. Only SWINDLE can scour the cultural landscape of the globe to give you a mash-up of content this sweet!

Check out SwindleMagazine.com

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The California Primaries are over, but the pasters will still stay up.

Below are a few pasters that we have seen around town.

Photo Credit: Kyle Oldoerp

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