Shepard Fairey Judges National Art Contest to Get Big Money Out of Presidential Elections

UPDATE: The Art > Money contest winner has been chosen and on Monday Oct. 29, people across the country are sharing the winning winning image. Share the image online, or IRL, and voice your support for keeping big money out of American politics. The winning image was created by Landon Wix of Tennessee; the judging panel included Shepard Fairey, Jesse Dylan, Lawrence Lessig, and Annie Leonard. Check out the winning image below: 

In 2008, the memorable message of the presidential election was “Hope.” Barack Obama ran on the promise of “Hope and Change,” and the artist Shepard Fairey provided just the right image to reflect and honor that promise.

The mission behind the message is to push back against the power of big money in our political process. As Fairey said in a release for Art > Money, "This competition is about empowering people to take back control of their democracy, not from one party or another, but from the money that has concentrated political power in the hands of the few. It's about using art to push back against the existing power structures in our society and inspiring real change."

Money is a persuasive tool, and politics buys right into that persuasion. In 2012, outside spending in the presidential election hit record numbers ($465 million at September’s count), and 78% of that money can be directly attributed to Citizens United. A recent survey indicated that 83% of Americans think money is too prevalent in today's political system.

“Politicians are responsive to a tiny sliver of the population,” said Matt Palevsky partner of the Art > Money project and unPAC.org co-founder. “80% of the Super PAC money has come from only 169 people." Money skews the outcome of elections, Art > Money’s mission is to find a creative way for people on both sides of the political divide to approach and combat the issue.