Last weekend, 41-year-old Shepard Fairey, who created the HOPE poster now synonymous with the President’s 2008 campaign, was attacked by Danish left-wing radicals outside a nightclub after the opening of his exhibition in Copenhagen. The angry men called him “Obama illuminati” and left him with a black eye and a bruised rib. Like any good street artist used to skirting the law, Fairey refused to go to the cops, so it was only this weekend that the Guardian got the scoop.
Earlier this month, Fairey completed a controversial mural in Denmark commemorating the demolition of the left-wing community base, “Ungdomshuset” at Jagtvej 69. The mural, while promoting peace, enraged many members of the community. Hours after its completion, it was vandalized with graffiti saying ‘no peace’ and ‘go home, Yankee hipster.’ “The media reported that it was commissioned by the city, which wasn’t true,” Fairey told the Guardian . “It looked to the people at 69 like I was cooperating with the authorities, making a propaganda piece to smooth over the wound.” So he tried to promote peace with his art but managed to offend the people he was trying to support enough that they ambushed him and beat him up? All we can say is, Fairey, you Obama-loving hipster, don’t bring any of that peace and harmony stuff to our town.
[via BoingBoing]