Shepard Fairey sentenced to two years probation in Massachusetts

The legal adventures of Shepard Fairey came to a head today when the L.A. street artist received a sentence of two years probation from a Boston court as part of a plea arrangement with prosecutors.

Fairey agreed to plead guilty to three vandalism charges in exchange for the prosecutors dropping 11 other charges. The artist pleaded guilty to one charge of defacing property and two charges of "wanton destruction of property" valued at under $250.

The judge also ordered Fairey to pay $2,000 to a graffiti removal organization and said that the artist cannot possess tagging materials except for legal art installations.

Fairey, 39, issued a public apology to the citizens of Boston for "posting my art in unauthorized spaces without the consent of the owner." He also said in a statement that "I believe in the importance of making art accessible through many avenues, and I will continue to advocate the use of legal public spaces for meaningful artistic expression and communication."

In February, Fairey was arrested while he was in Boston for a solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Art. He was later charged with close to 30 vandalism-related crimes, of which prosecutors agreed to drop more than a dozen in June. Today's sentencing means that Fairey faces no more charges in the state of Massachusetts.

But the artist's legal troubles are far from over. In an unrelated set of cases, Fairey and the Associated Press have sued each other over the use of a photo of Barack Obama that served as the inspiration for Fairey's popular "Hope" poster during the 2008 presidential election.

-- David Ng

Photo: Shepard Fairey at today's sentencing in Boston. Credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Charles]

Graffiti convictions or not, Fairey is a very talented and fascinating artist. His Obama Hope poster is just the tip of a delightful iceberg.

[floyd]

Fairey should be on probation for his plagiarism too.

[Shane]

@ charles. I think you and your ilk should get out more. This is probably the most ridiculously overrated artist. There is nothing authentic about his work.

Saddens me to see that hundreds of more deserving artists don't get half this much PR. That's a real tragedy.

[Brian]

@ Shane:

The reason he gets so much PR is because he's always in court. There are easier ways to get PR, and in the final analysis, he won't be remembered as well as it appears now.

[bajel]

ha ha *point*

[Dan]

Mr. Fairey is obviously a savvy self-promoter and has figured out how to make money with work that denounces money-making. I am unsure how one can be denounced as a plagiarist in commercial graphic design? Isn't quoting, re-working and calling up past imagery and/or rhetoric a part of that practice? At this point, it all seems to be simply a fight over who gets the money.