Interesting story from the Chicago Tribune, "Designer Behind Obama Mystery Art." It's about tracking down the artist making those pro-Obama posters and pieces of stenciled graffiti that popped up here in Chicago over the summer, only to spread all over the country, a la the early career of Shepard Fairey, who just recently got on board with his own Obama prints. Turns out, the person responsible is Ray Noland, who has built and organized the whole, unauthorized, but likely very appreciated, campaign out of his apartment. It's a pretty great story, particularly if you're an Obama fan. Here's a bit:

He hopes the posters will give the senator from Illinois a boost, associating the candidate with pop culture in a way that will attract young voters. Art can work in powerful and subliminal ways, he argues. "I want to get into people's heads," he said.

The idea for a poster campaign came to Noland in the summer of 2006, when he was home recuperating from a serious bicycle accident. He had been pedaling through an intersection near Malcolm X College, when a turning car broadsided him. Noland woke the next day in the hospital with tubes in his arms, a broken cheek bone, two missing teeth and a dislocated shoulder. Recovering in bed for six weeks, he started thinking about what he wanted to do with his life. "I wanted to do something to make an impact. After the accident, I felt like, 'Man, this is another chance at life. You better make it good,'" he said.