Obey Graffiti Vandalism Charges

Shepard Fairey of Obey fame was arrested in early February as he arrived at the opening of his retrospective exhibit at Boston’s Institute for Contemporary Art and then imprisoned overnight, Fairey entered a not guilty plea yesterday in municipal court as he faced multiple charges based on allegations that he posted images and mounted posters on a railroad trestle, Massachusetts Turnpike Authority property, and traffic signs in the Back Bay neighborhood. The Boston Globe notes that the police have acknowledged that they did not have eyewitnesses or surveillance films of Fairey mounting any of the materials. Fairey contends that the images used are available for downloading on the Internet and could have been posted by anyone. According to the Times article, the artist issued a statement Wednesday in which he asserted that his prosecution represented an effort to punish him for advocating that public spaces “should be filled with more than just commercial advertising.”