Spencer Elden

Nirvana Baby, Spencer Elden from Barry O Donnell on Vimeo.

All joking aside Elden seems like a really talented graphic designer with his own distinct style and process. You can see more of his work on his blog Vampires One Day.

Both Elden and Fairy have become icons for very different reasons.  Simply by being in the right place at the right time Elden became the focal point of one of the most of the most recognisable album covers of the 20tt Century. Shepard Fairy, on the other hand, designed one of the most iconic contemporary political images with his ‘Hope’ portrait of Obama. Unfortunately he failed to credit the photographer whose photo he used as the basis for the artwork and the legal action that was taken by the Associated Press and the photographer Mannie Garcia focused a great deal of media attention on the practice of ‘appropriation’ in the art world and what qualifies as ‘fair use’ of copyrighted content.