I'm pretty sure it's not Banksy

October 27, 2007 5:28 AM

Urbanartfilter: Who, what, and why is this the square-faced symmetrical stencil face guy?

An enormous version of this guy appeared near where I work this week, along with this lady here -- who must have some connection because she appeared at the same time and the same face is in the middle of that 'PEACE' rosette.

I've seen this face on walls in several cities in the UK, US, Spain, and even in a game posted to the front page. In the absence of a Google Image Search that identifies any image you upload, please can anybody offer more information?

(Sorry for crappy cameraphone pic quality)

posted by randomination to society & culture (8 comments total)

Andre The Giant
posted by Mayor Curley at 5:31 AM on October 27, 2007 [2 favorites]

OBEY
posted by Mach5 at 5:34 AM on October 27, 2007

Thanks.

"The Obey campaign seeks to stimulate curiosity and bring people to question both the campaign and their relationship with their surroundings ... because people are not used to seeing advertisements or propaganda for which the motive is not obvious, frequent and novel encounters with Obey propaganda provoke thought and possible frustration ..."

Oh, looks like AskMeFi ruined it all. kthxbye
posted by randomination at 5:50 AM on October 27, 2007

What have you done, randomination?

WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?
posted by washburn at 8:27 AM on October 27, 2007

Probably a reference to 1984, by the way: "Throughout urban areas are large two-way telescreens as well as posters of "Big Brother", the supposed leader of Oceania (although the man himself is never seen in the flesh), with captions reading "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU"."
posted by koeselitz at 9:32 AM on October 27, 2007

Cool: I have seen (and photographed) it a few times in Montreal and have been wondering about it.
Thanks randomination for the question, Mayor Curley and Mach5 for the answers: now I know how to tag my pics.
posted by bru at 11:03 AM on October 27, 2007

to be specific: shepard fairey.

The kid does good work.
posted by fishfucker at 11:18 AM on October 27, 2007

Check out the most recent issue of Juxtapoz magazine, it has an interview with Shepard Fairey and some high-res pictures of his art (including the cover!).
posted by amuseDetachment at 1:23 AM on October 28, 2007