I created the “You Are Under Surveillance” print in late 1996 a few short months after I moved from Providence R.I. to San Diego. 1996-97 marked a focused evolution in my art away from irreverent, absurdist, pop art, and toward a unified aesthetic and color palette inspired primarily by Russian Constructivist design and the art of Barbara Kruger. As a fan of George Orwell, his critiques of surveillance and its role in controlling people’s behavior, were always in the front of my mind. I was not only referring to CCTV style surveillance with this print, but also the surveillance of the public’s patterns of consumption, entertainment choices, and other behaviors that could make groups easier to target. Of course, with today’s digital tools that did not exist in 1996, the surveillance capabilities are far more insidious and sophisticated. The “You Are Under Surveillance” image is much more relevant now than it was 27 years ago. The eye image itself was inspired by the concept of Big Brother as well as what images looked like on the crude surveillance cameras of the 90’s. I was just starting to learn how to use the computer, so I had Andy Howell help me create a coarse line-screen halftone of an eye. I then illustrated the crude black line conversion of the continuous tone eye, adding Andre’s face in the pupil, by cutting the image out of Rubylith with an X-acto knife. I continue to use analog and digital techniques to create my work today. The use of bold oblique Futura type was a direct homage to Barbara Kruger whose work often addressed social issues.
-Shepard