5.05.2008

Shepard Fairey is going blind?

Update: Not true, says Gothamist.

I didn't know this: Shepard Fairey is losing his eyesight due to diabetes and, according to one source, could be legally blind by year's end. From ANIMAL/NY:
"That's why he's having so many gallery shows and making so many prints," the source, who requested anonymity, said. “The Faireys are trying to pump out as much artwork as they can before he can't see anymore -- time is running out.”

Before his Obama work, Fairey was best known for littering countless urban landscapes with his 'Andre the Giant Has A Posse' wheatpastings and and has been compared to a modern-day Andy Warhol by many in the contemporary art world.

Fairey has never attempted to hide his condition and has mentioned it in several interviews and even spun records at nightclubs under the name “DJ Diabetic"—he's spinning at the Guggenheim tonight.

ANIMAL asked Jonathan Levine, Shepard's NY rep, if the price of his work could potentially fetch more when news like this gets out. "I don't know enough about it. I think it's possible. Even if he's legally blind, it doesn't necessarily mean he's fully blind, so he still might be able to make work," said Levine who refused to confirm or deny Shepard's condition.

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