What is the story and history behind the Obey clothing line and Obey Giant?
The thing is, it has evolved over the years because Obey & Giant started as a joke with the “Andre the Giant Has A Posse” stickers but then in putting the stickers around, mostly for the benefit for my skateboard friends, I started to see that there was a reaction to something that was put in the public space that wasn’t obviously an advertisement. That started me thinking how public space was utilized for propaganda and advertising. There is a huge opportunity to use public space as an avenue for freedom of speech and artistic expression. It’s also interesting to see the social dynamics behind the reaction to something put out in that space that doesn’t have an obvious interpretation. Early on, I took an interest in this sociological aspect. I also saw the street as a place where I can bypass the galleries and not have any curators say what you are doing isn’t right for my gallery. I started to combine the Andre image that initially started as a joke, into a lot of the artwork that I
