Yesterday evening, another indication of the global effect of skate culture stared at me through the eyes of one Nicolas Sarkozy. A reader of Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish posted this photo taken in Paris over the weekend. While this is a testament to the iconography of Obama, it also portrays the broad appeal of skate influenced street art.
The creator of the original Obama image is Shepard Fairey. You may recognize Fairey as the mastermind behind OBEY. His tag of Andre the Giant was among the most popular viral images spread in the late twentieth century. Joshua Bearman gives an excellent account of how the Fairey-Obama connection came about here.
The fact that the Obama campaign felt comfortable using Fairey's imagery speaks to their saavy for the pulse of the electorate. Each presidential election year the media and the candidates talk about how valuable the youth vote is "this time," despite young people's traditionally lackluster reputation for showing up to the polls. Finally they were right, but not because of new youth voters. Even if the first time youngins had stayed at home Obama would have won by about 2 points.
The success of Obama's campaign lied in its appeal to the youthful idealism in people of all ages. Fairey's poster helped create the perception that Obama personifies the modern American ethos. Six years ago who would have thought that a French president would gladly posture to gain a little yankee gravitas? I don't have a solid grasp of French mores, but maybe it would be better for Sarkozy to take up parkour ?
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