Artist: Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey was born on February 15, 1970. Coming up in the scateboard scene of the 80's and 90's, he is now a world famous graphic designer and illustrator. He first became know for a campaign of stickers featuring Andre the Giant, but it was in 2008 when he really became known throughout the world.

For the 2008 presidental campaign, Fairey made a series of posters for now president Barack Obama, one of which was the iconic "hope" portrait. the poster got much attention, even being called "the most efficacious American political illustration since 'Uncle Sam wants You'". Fairey distributed 300,000 stickers and 500,000 posters during the campaign. He was quoted saying, "I just put all the money back into making more stuff, so I didnt keep any of the Obama money." Fairey received a letter of thanks in February 2008 from Obama for his contribution to the campaign.

Currently Shepard Fairey sits on the advisory board of Reaching to Embrace the Arts. The non-profit organization provides art supplies to schools and students who cannot afford them. He is also a board member of the Music Is Revolution Foundation, a non-profit organization supporting music education in public schools. Shepard Fairey lives in Los Angeles with his wife Amanda and daughters Vivienne and Madeline.

Artist: JR

-JR is an anonymous street artist and photographer. He is known for his large-scale black and white images that he posts on the sides of buildings in cities and slums around the world, using the world as his personal art gallery. He says the streets are "the largest art gallery in the world." JR's work "often challenges widely held preconceptions and the reductive images propagated by advertising and the media."

His passion was initially sparked when he found a camera in his home town of Paris, France. He took the camera and traveled around the city meeting local people whos "galleries" were also the streets of the city. After talking to the graffiti artists he met in the streets, he posted their portraits on the walls of Paris. From 2004 to 2006, JR created "Portraits of a Generation". This was a collection of portraits of young people from the housing projects around Paris that he exhibited in huge format. This illegal project was made official when the City of Paris joined in putting JR’s photos up on buildings around the city. In 2007, JR went to Palestinian and Israeli cities and pasted photos of Palestinians and Israelis face to face on wither side of the separation barrier. When asked about this powerful and dangerous project, he said "The heroes of the project are all those who, on both sides of the wall, allowed me to paste the portraits on their houses." JR calls himself an "urban artivist". He creates powerful, meaningful art that he puts up on the buildings in the Paris area projects, on the walls of the Middle East, on the broken bridges of Africa or in the favelas of Brazil.

JR has been introduced by Fabrice Bousteau as "the one we already call the Cartier-Bresson of the 21st century." JR was awarded the TED prize for 2011. The TED Prize is awarded annually to an exceptional individual who receives $100,000 and, much more important, 'One Wish to Change the World.' Designed to leverage the TED community's exceptional array of talent and resources, the Prize leads to collaborative initiatives with far-reaching impact."