The artist who made his mark in Chicago and nationwide for his Obama Hope posters was beaten up over the weekend in Copenhagen for a controversial mural.
Shepard Fairey, 41, and his colleague, Romeo Trinidad, were punched and kicked early Saturday by four men after the opening of his exhibition, "Your Ad Here," at a Copenhagen gallery.
Fairey told The Guardian he thought it was a misunderstanding over an installation he created about the demolition of the well-known Youth House at Jagtvej 69, a base for the city's leftwing community. The mural was later vandalized. According to the Guardian:
Fairey's installation, painted on a building adjacent to the vacant site, depicted a dove in flight above the word "peace" and the figure "69". But the mural appeared to reopen old wounds, with critics accusing Fairey of peddling government-funded propaganda.
The gallery opening went well, Fairey said, until the end.
"On the way out, a kid, maybe 19 or 20 started yelling at me “Obama illuminati ... go back to America,” Fairey wrote on his blog. "As he raised his fists I was clocked from the side by someone I never saw. The next thing you know I’m being attacked by at least 3 guys."
He was left with a black eye and bruised rib.
