OBEY
No End In Sight For Shepard Fairey
This past Friday, ANIMAL reported that Shepard Fairey could be legally blind by the end of the year from complications due to diabetes according to a very well placed source—who refuses to back down from their story. Reached by phone yesterday, Shepard Fairey vehemently denied that he’s losing his vision, but did openly admit to having lots of past vision problems, even as recent as last June, right around the time he was readying his “E Pluribus Venom” exhibit at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, “[W]hen I was in NY last summer for my show at Jonathan’s, I just had a bleed in my right eye and the whole time I was working on that show I only had partial vision in my right eye. But, I was still able to work, I could still paint and cut, and do what I need to do,” said Fairey. The show, which featured over 150 pieces, all sold out according to LeVine.
The street artist freely acknowledged having multiple surgeries to repair damaged blood vessels, “Eventually I got the bleeds in both eyes and they had to do the surgery. When I had the first surgery they were able to break up the blood with a laser and it was disintegrated. But if there’s enough bleeding in your eye then they have to just cut your eye open drain the fluid and replace it with saline,” adding, “Yeah that’s what I’ve had twice.” Now that the procedure was a success he says he’s “all good” and describes his vision as 20/25 in one eye and 20/30 in the other. He even states that the surgery was quite rejuvenating, “My eyes look like they do on the inside when I was 16.”
Shepard isn’t taking his health for granted this time around though, mentioning that he’s really on top of monitoring his diabetes daily, “Now I check my blood sugar like 5-6 times a day, I used to check it like once a day. I wasn’t on top of it as much as I should be, I was irresponsible.” He’s even prepared in the event that he’s arrested while plastering up his posters after going through some harrowing attacks during brief incarcerations in the past, “The cops never believe you when you say you’re diabetic. Now I use an insulin pump which is actually attached to my body, the pump itself is like an IV and the pump itself stays in my pants pocket. “ That and his diabetic tattoo—the only one on his body—is usually enough to convince even the flattest foots.
by ANIMAL on May 7, 2008
Comments (1)
Here's to your health and happiness Shepard - thanks for all the great work.
Posted by Cybernigel | May 8, 2008 4:11 PM