Shepard Fairey Angry at Local Blogger ~ Echo Park

Eastsider LA is an essential local blog written by Jesus Sanchez, a resident of Echo Park. Recently he pointed out that Shepard Fairey, who made his name by posting his art on the street, had applied anti-tagging paint to his studio's building on Sunset Boulevard. It seems like an amusing story without a ton of overall meaning (there is a difference between public and private property; Fairey is not a tagger), but Fairey seems to have taken the implication that he is a hypocrite hard, sending a bitter email to Jesus that reads in part: For you to portray me as anti-street art is very revealing about YOU and YOUR agenda. Are you pro-street art or graffiti? If the answer is yes, then I'd assume based on your portrayal of me, that you'd welcome graffiti on your house or business lest you be revealed to be an anti-art hypocrite. If you have any integrity you will post my response along with your home and office address as an invitation for people to display their art there.

One thing we know about Shep is that he doesn't back down from a fight and takes his reputation very seriously. In this case it seems obvious that he should've just written Jesus a polite email explaining his position on the difference between public and private property. Now he just looks like a humorless guy writing angry letters to bloggers.