Shepard Fairey Got Beat Up by Danish Left-Wing Radicals
The LA-based artist believes the attack was sparked by a misunderstanding over his mural commemorating the demolition of the legendary "Ungdomshuset" (youth house) at Jagtvej 69. The building, a long-term base for Copenhagen's leftwing community, was controversially demolished in 2007. In the intervening years it has become a potent symbol of the standoff between the establishment in Copenhagen and its radical fringe. …
Within a day of completion, the mural was vandalized by protesters, with graffiti sending messages of 'no peace' and 'go home, Yankee hipster'. Fairey subsequently collaborated with former members of the 69 youth house to redecorate the lower half of the installation. His new version contains images of riot police and explosions, together with a new, more combative slogan: "Nothing forgotten, nothing forgiven".
At first glance, it might seem like Fairey's come back to Earth. (After all, he has now literally inserted himself into fight in a foreign land over issues of social justice.) But Fairey's as capitalist as ever. He's even selling prints that feature the Copenhagen mural's iconography online.Read more at www.theatlanticwire.com