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Shepard Fairey's work consistently engages with notions of American nationalism, institutional authority, and the undercurrents of counter culture. Employing street aesthetics, decorative patterns, and visceral characterizations of the human subject, his work is politically motivated and acutely felt. Here, inspired by George Orwell’s novel 1984, he creates a poster with the famous slogan “Big Brother is Watching You” to comment on civil freedom and mass surveillance.
The image and text represented in the artwork are a reference to George Orwell’s 1984, where the government has everyone under surveillance and their slogan is “Big Brother is watching you.” According to Shepard Fairey, "Orwell’s ideas always resonated with him, so he thought it fitting to pay homage, especially since many of those ideas were already integrated into the Obey campaign." The work has a very sinister feel, the face of Big Brother is concealed in darkness, with a glimmer of light on his eye as though he is looking through a key hole. The work has a very powerful message, especially taking into consideration what is going on in the world today.
