Back in 2008, when the Jailbreak was born and Obama Action Figures were flying off the shelves, we made no secret of our great affection and admiration for Shepard Fairey and his work. Times may have changed but our feelings towards Fairey certainly haven’t.

For better or for worse, to many outside of the art world, Shepard is simply the “Hope Poster Guy” and it’s proven to be a tricky role for him in the years since Obama’s election because, as a human symbol of all the hope behind the Obama campaign, his words about Obama as president have often been distorted or taken out of context to serve other people’s political narratives.

Two days ago, Fairey published an essay on Huffington Post to address the question directly, in his own unedited words, and as always, what comes through is an extremely intelligent man with strong ideals and a nuanced understanding of complex situations… Something the American media often have trouble portraying. In Fairey’s own words:

“I generally avoid commenting about Obama’s performance because I have found that the mainstream media tends to reduce my views to a simplistic position of being either “for” the President or “disappointed” or “against” him.”

The full essay is subtle, considered and well worth reading. In addition to clearing the air about Fairey’s own opinions, I suspect that many of Obama’s most ardent campaign supporters (ourselves included) are looking for ways to square their mixed feelings about the first two years of his presidency with the unmitigated hope they felt in 2008.  And now, as then, Shepard Fairey may just be the guy who sets the tone for us.