Shepard Fairey, guerrilla artist and creator of the iconic Obama “Hope” image, as well as the art for recently deceased indie 103.1, has been arrested on tagging charges in Boston on his way to the Institute of Contemporary Art to DJ at the opening party for his solo exhibition, “Supply and Demand.” This is the third major arrest of high profile guerrilla artists in a week. Smear and seven other members of the guerrilla art collective known as MTA (Metropolitan Transit Assassins) were picked up after creating the largest tag ever in Los Angeles, and PosterBoy got picked up in NYC on his way to an art opening in SoHo. Who’s next?

Shepard was released hours after being arrested. According to the LA Times article, the warrants that were the basis for the arrest were only issued January 24, and they are based on the police’s determination that he had tagged property in two locations with his street art campaign featuring Andre the Giant and the word “obey.” Fairey’s attourney, Jeffrey Weisner stated, “Shepard Fairey was completely unaware that there were any warrants for

his arrest. Had he known, he would have resolved all such issues before

the opening of his art exhibit at the Institute of Contemporary Art in

Boston.” I wonder if, like in PosterBoy’s case, there exists a distinct possibility that someone else tagged the property using Shepard’s iconic imagery.

Shepard Fairey remains in a legal dispute with the AP for his use of a copyrighted AP photograph as the basis for his famous Obama Hope image.