UPDATE: I was misinformed, the Bandit image below is by Restitution Press, and the skull image is by Euthanasia.
Looks like it’s time to add Restitution Press to the list of artists that Shepard Fairey may have stolen imagery from without giving credit. Restitution Press has been wheatpasting in LA and other cities for years, and now it looks like two of their images have one of their images has been stolen and combined with an image by Euthanasia for use in a tshirt by OBEY Clothing.
Essentially, here’s what happened:
Those first two images are by Restitution Press. The first image is by Restitution Press, the second is by Euthanasia, and the last one is a close up of a tshirt by OBEY Clothing. They sure look pretty similar.
Here’s the full image of the shirt:
This looks to be one of OBEY’s classic “re-appropriations” where they have taken some images that they like, changed them slightly, and the stuck some OBEY logos around.
And it would be pretty hard for Shepard Fairey to play dumb about these images. He knows they exist. Last year he wrote to the head of Restitution Press complimenting him on their work.
I wonder what Shepard Fairey from last April would have to say about this…