ANIMAL » DJ DIABETIC

$125 to Hang With Shepard Fairey

Will Sherman — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:44:27 +0000

Returning to the city that’s persecuting him, DJ Diabetic, aka Shepard Fairey, will spin records for OBEY Experiment REDUX, a party at ICA Boston with Z-Trip and Chuck D. General admission is $35, but buy $125 tickets and you can “hang out with Shepard Fairey in the exclusive VIP lounge, where you’ll enjoy an open bar and light food” during the two hours its open on July 31st.

No End In Sight For Shepard Fairey

ANIMAL — Wed, 07 May 2008 21:24:50 +0000

This past Friday, ANIMAL reported that Shepard Fairey could be legally blind by the end of the year from complications due to diabetes according to a very well placed source—who refuses to back down from their story. Reached by phone yesterday, Shepard Fairey vehemently denied that he’s losing his vision, but did openly admit to having lots of past vision problems, even as recent as last June, right around the time he was readying his “E Pluribus Venom” exhibit at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, “[W]hen I was in NY last summer for my show at Jonathan’s, I just had a bleed in my right eye and the whole time I was working on that show I only had partial vision in my right eye. But, I was still able to work, I could still paint and cut, and do what I need to do,” said Fairey. The show, which featured over 150 pieces, all sold out according to LeVine.

The street artist freely acknowledged having multiple surgeries to repair damaged blood vessels, “Eventually I got the bleeds in both eyes and they had to do the surgery. When I had the first surgery they were able to break up the blood with a laser and it was disintegrated. But if there’s enough bleeding in your eye then they have to just cut your eye open drain the fluid and replace it with saline,” adding, “Yeah that’s what I’ve had twice.” Now that the procedure was a success he says he’s “all good” and describes his vision as 20/25 in one eye and 20/30 in the other. He even states that the surgery was quite rejuvenating, “My eyes look like they do on the inside when I was 16.”
Shepard isn’t taking his health for granted this time around though, mentioning that he’s really on top of monitoring his diabetes daily, “Now I check my blood sugar like 5-6 times a day, I used to check it like once a day. I wasn’t on top of it as much as I should be, I was irresponsible.” He’s even prepared in the event that he’s arrested while plastering up his posters after going through some harrowing attacks during brief incarcerations in the past, “The cops never believe you when you say you’re diabetic. Now I use an insulin pump which is actually attached to my body, the pump itself is like an IV and the pump itself stays in my pants pocket. “ That and his diabetic tattoo—the only one on his body—is usually enough to convince even the flattest foots.

Is This The End Of Shepard Fairey?

ANIMAL — Sat, 03 May 2008 00:00:07 +0000

Shepard Fairey, the 38-year-old street artist who has garnered mainstream attention recently thanks to the “Progress” and “Hope” posters he designed for Barack Obama’s campaign, is rapidly losing his vision due to a lifelong battle with diabetes. According to one source close to Fairey, he could be legally blind by the end of the year.
“That’s why he’s having so many gallery shows and making so many prints,” the source, who requested anonymity, said. “The Faireys are trying to pump out as much artwork as they can before he can’t see anymore — time is running out.”
Before his Obama work, Fairey was best known for littering countless urban landscapes with his ‘Andre the Giant Has A Posse’ wheatpastings and and has been compared to a modern-day Andy Warhol by many in the contemporary art world.

Fairey has never attempted to hide his condition and has mentioned it in several interviews and even spun records at nightclubs under the name “DJ Diabetic”—he’s spinning at the Guggenheim tonight.
ANIMAL asked Jonathan Levine, Shepard’s NY rep, if the price of his work could potentially fetch more when news like this gets out. “I don’t know enough about it. I think it’s possible. Even if he’s legally blind, it doesn’t necessarily mean he’s fully blind, so he still might be able to make work,” said Levine who refused to confirm or deny Shepard’s condition. So those owners of Fairey originals or prints might have an even more valuable piece than they did before. Your choice: sell them off now or keep your investment safe.
UPDATE: Shepard responds.