Shepard Fairey Installs 100-foot Mural

Shepard Fairey has a new installation in London’s Pleasure Gardens. The 10-story mural is part of the London Pleasure Garden’s vision of emulating the 17th and 19th Century tradition of ‘communal spaces where people from all walks of life converged to listen to music, admire paintings, stroll, drink, flirt and immerse themselves in the culture.’ As the world’s attention turns to London for the 2012 Olympic Games (July 27-Aug 12) the longtime cultural capital of the world is hot showcase for these convergences of art, music, sport and media attention.

Head into your weekend with a quote from Fairey: “Art [and creativity] is really undervalued as a means of evolving culture. The more that [street art] is encouraged and there is a space that incubates it the better. As an artist, I always felt that museums and galleries were just too narrow a venue for my art – and art in general. The best art works like music, where music, when you really like it, you listen to the melody and the beat and then you pay attention to the lyrics and what the message is. It becomes a whole feeling and an idea bundled in one – visual art should work the same way.”