In late July, Shepard Fairey created a series of street murals in Copenhagen. “In early August a series of inaccurate articles and web posts began to emerge reporting that I was commissioned and paid by the city of Copenhagen to execute my Peace Dove mural,” Fairey wrote on his blog. The mural site had been the location of clashes between the city and the supporters and inhabitants of the Youth House formerly located there. “In spite of efforts by myself, my gallery, and the Youth House, to correct the record,” he continued, “media outlets continued to perpetuate the misconception that I had been hired or at least prompted by the city to create my mural at the former Youth House location. An unfortunate chain reaction of events took place that I believe may have been, at least in part, catalyzed by media misinformation that continues to circulate.”
In Copenhagen, one of Fairey’s murals was attacked a couple of times, and he and Romeo Trinidad, his OBEY colleague, were attacked by four young adults after the art opening after-party. Fairey said that his attackers called him “Obama illuminati” and ordered him to “go back to America.” “I can’t say exactly what the motivations were for some of the people’s behavior in Copenhagen, but I have a few theories,” he wrote.
One of the spots where Fairey put a large poster in 2004 was the 69 Youth House/Punk House at the epicenter of the controversy on this trip, where it remained untouched until it was indeed defaced. Presumably, the attack by Danish anarchists was in response to this controversy and the press reports about the mural’s funding. Fairey and Trinidad suffered black eyes and other bruises.
