Dissent and stencil posters. At GAM in Rome, the street art of Fairey and Sten Lex

Street art stars in two exhibition projects at the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome: Shepard Fairey / 3 Decades of dissent and Sten Lex. Rebirth, both of which can be visited until November 22, 2020.

On the occasion of Shepard Fairey ’s (Charleston, 1970) exhibition, thirty previously unseen works by the famous urban artist will be in dialogue with works by other contemporary artists from GAM’s collection, selected by the artist himself. This is an exclusive project, curated by Shepard Fairey in collaboration with Claudio Crescentini, Federica Pirani and Wunderkammern Gallery. The thirty of his recent unpublished graphic works, created in 2019, address many of his dissenting themes, such as the struggle for peace and against racial violence, the defense of human and gender dignity, and environmental protection.

The exhibition starts with an autographed copy of Hope (2008), one of his most famous works, in which the artist redefined Barack Obama’s face, creating an iconic image. This is followed by the redefinition of the well-known sticker campaign André the Giant Has a Posse, with the wrestling champion’s face littered on thousands of walls in American cities (shown here, André the Giant, in his Hendrix version, along with Jesse, with the face of Reverend Jesse Jackson from the Brown Power series. In this work, Fairey explicitly adopts the visual language of the 1960s-1970s, using a pan-African color scheme-red, black, and green-taken up by African-American freedom and rights fighters). Power and equality, on the other hand, is dedicated to Angela Davis, an activist in the U.S. African-American movement and militant in the Communist Party of the United States of America.

Fairey’s art also ties in with thetwentieth-century avant-garde, from Futurism to Russian Constructivism, as in the work Guns and roses, defined by the linguistic and visual interplay between rock and pacifist symbols, with roses in guns. Pacifism, Fairey’s other dominant theme, is legitimized by his (re)appropriation of the graphics of European Modernism, as in the Obey Lotus Ornament series and the Money series with Lenin, Mao and Nixon. And in another politically charged work, Greetings from Iraq, where the “beauties” of Iraq become the U.S. aerial bombings.

Fairey’s political themes include prominent figures of pacifist and anti-racist political activism, the will to work and fight for world peace and against racial violence, the defense of human and gender dignity, the fight against violence against women and violated childhoods, and the preservation and defense of the environment. The street artist intends to elect art as the law of dissent, and in this sense he wanted to make his works and themes dialogue with those of GAM’s contemporary art collection, building visual paths that tend in turn toward other visual interweavings with which the public can interact and confront. Beginning with the play of glances of Big brother is watching you with Giacomo Balla’s Il dubbio (1907-08), continuing with Commanda in dialogue with Antonio Donghi’s Donna alla toletta (1930), Exclamation with Scipione’s Il Cardinal Decano (1930), Jesse with Renato Guttuso’s L’ autretratto (1937), Obey fist clenched with Giulio Turcato’s Comizio (1949-50), Mario Schifano’s Compagni Compagni (1968). Instead, Fairey’s Guns and Roses will dialogue with Pino Pascali’s Cannon (1965), Proud parents with Luca Maria Patella’s Gli Arnolfini Mazzola at Madmountain (1978), Nixon Money with 1) Willy Brandt / 2) Morder von Rechts / 3) Is there no soul? (1992-97) by Fabio Mauri.

On display for the Interferences of. art, works by Claudio Abate, Carla Accardi, Giacomo Balla, Domenico Belli, Felice Casorati, Emanuele Cavalli, Primo Conti, Nino Costa, Giorgio De Chirico, Fortunato Depero, Antonio Donghi, Francesco Guerrieri, Virgilio Guidi, Renato Guttuso, Fabio Mauri, Cipriani Efisio Oppo, Pino Pascali, Luca Maria Patella, Fausto Pirandello, Giuseppe Salvatori, Mario Schifano, Scipione, Mario Sironi, Giulio Turcato and other artists.

Fairey’s exhibition is being held in conjunction with Sten Lex’sstencil poster installation. Rebirth. Both exhibitions are promoted by Roma Capitale, Assessorato alla Crescita Culturale, Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali and Galleria Wunderkammern, and are organized in collaboration with Zètema Progetto cultura. The initiative is part of Romarama, the program of cultural events promoted by Roma Capitale.

On display for the exhibition by Sten Lex, pioneers of the stencil poster, are works in medium to large format, including precisely stencil posters and prints on paper with iron, wood and glass supports, and a stencil poster installation in the Gallery’s cloister.

Pictured is Shepard Fairey,Guns and roses. Ph. Credit Jon Furlong

Dissent and stencil posters. At GAM in Rome, the street art of Fairey and Sten Lex

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