“Street Art of the Day: Street artist Shepard Fairey and colleague Romeo Trinidad were attacked by two menoutside a nightclub in Copenhagen over a mural he recently erected in the city.
Collaborating with the Copenhagen-based V1 gallery, Fairey — best known for designing the the Barack Obama “Hope” poster — installed a mural commemorating the 2007 city-ordered demolition of the iconic Ungdomshuset(Youth House) on Jagtvej 69 — a well-known meeting spot for leftist groups.
But, according to Fairey, a misunderstanding over the mural’s intentions and a false report that the artwork was commissioned by the city led the defacing of the piece with the words “go home Yankee hipster,” and incited at least two men to beat up Fairey and his friend while shouting “Obama illuminati” and “go back to America.”
“It looked to the people at 69 like I was cooperating with the authorities, making a propaganda piece to smooth over the wound,” Fairey, who sustained a black eye and bruised rib, told The Guardian.
He went back to the vandalized mural with former Youth House members and revised it with scenes of riot police and explosions, along with the words “nothing forgotten, nothing forgiven.”
Fairey says he does not plan to report the attack to the police because he didn’t know them or get a good look at their faces. “I’m not a huge fan of the cops anyway,” he added. “The only thing I could see coming out of it was further media commentary like ‘street artist whiner Shepard Fairey can’t hold it down in a fight so he snitches to the cops’.”
[guardian / streetartnews.]”