The Difference Between the Work of Obey and Art Is Trash
Street art has many voices, each shaped by personal history, material choices, and how the artist confronts public space. Two influential names—Shepard Fairey, known as Obey, and Francisco de Pájaro, known as Art Is Trash—represent almost opposite poles of the movement. Both use the street as a stage, but their messages, methods, and materials create very different experiences.
Obey: Iconography and Political Messaging
Shepard Fairey, born in South Carolina and based in Los Angeles, is best known for his Obey Giant campaign and the HOPE poster of Barack Obama. His style is graphic, clean, and deeply influenced by propaganda aesthetics—Soviet posters, punk flyers, advertising layouts.
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Mediums: Fairey works with wheat-pasted posters, large-scale murals, stencils, and screen prints. His production often spills into galleries and commercial design.
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Message: His art speaks in slogans and icons—“Obey,” “Peace,” “Power,” “Justice.” The goal is not just humor but a deliberate political provocation, often tied to anti-corporate and social justice narratives.
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Longevity: Though originally illegal street posters, Obey’s work has become highly collectible and permanent. Murals are commissioned, prints are editioned, and pieces are archived in major museums.
In short, Obey’s universe is designed, controlled, and intentional—aimed at broadcasting a clear political signal to the largest audience possible.
Art Is Trash: Ephemerality and Human Fragility
Francisco de Pájaro, born in Zafra and based in Barcelona, approaches art from the opposite direction. Under the project name Art Is Trash, he transforms discarded furniture, garbage bags, and cardboard boxes into temporary street sculptures with painted faces, limbs, and grotesque expressions.
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Mediums: Trash, tape, cardboard, and marker are his palette. His art is built in minutes, intended to vanish within hours.
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Message: Instead of slogans, Art Is Trash offers humor, absurdity, and empathy. A pile of rubbish becomes a flirty character; a broken chair, a weary figure. The social critique is implicit—consumerism, waste, and mortality—but filtered through tenderness and comedy.
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Longevity: His work resists permanence. Only photographs remain, circulating online. The disappearance is part of the meaning: art, like life, is temporary.
Art Is Trash’s world is messy, emotional, and improvised—a conversation with the street and its rhythms of disposal and renewal.
Side by Side: Obey vs. Art Is Trash
| Aspect | Obey (Shepard Fairey) | Art Is Trash (Francisco de Pájaro) |
|---|---|---|
| Origin | United States, graphic design background | Spain (Zafra/Barcelona), performance & painting roots |
| Medium | Posters, murals, stencils, prints | Trash sculptures, quick drawings on discarded objects |
| Style | Bold, clean, propaganda-inspired | Grotesque, humorous, improvised |
| Message | Political, ideological, anti-authoritarian | Human fragility, consumer waste, absurd comedy |
| Lifespan | Semi-permanent, institutionalized | Ephemeral, disappears quickly |
| Afterlife | Museums, galleries, limited prints | Photos, social media, memories |
Why Both Matter
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Obey shows how street art can enter the cultural mainstream, influencing politics and mass media while still carrying a subversive edge.
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Art Is Trash reminds us of the fragility of both art and life, offering street encounters that are poetic precisely because they vanish.
Together, they map the spectrum of street art: from iconic permanence to playful impermanence. Obey is about what endures; Art Is Trash is about what slips away.
Explore more
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Obey Giant official site: obeygiant.com
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Art Is Trash official site: artistrash.es
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Instagram Art Is Trash: instagram.com/artistrash
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Stories Art Is Trash: instagram.com/stories/artistrash
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Pinterest Street Art Barcelona: Street Art Barcelona Board
