Shepard Fairey — Two Sides of Capitalism / Power to the People Banknote (2007): A Collector’s Guide
Fairey took the look of money and turned it into propaganda.
This is one of the pocket-sized results — and one of the most collected small-format OBEY works.
View this piece at Gauntlet Gallery →
What you are actually looking at
This is a double-sided Shepard Fairey (OBEY) “currency” art note from 2007. One face carries the green “$1 / OBEY” ransom-note design, complete with slogans like “Obedience Is The Most Valuable Currency” and “In Lesser Gods We Trust.” The reverse carries the red “Power to OBEY the People — Public Works” printing-press design, framed by the words Supply & Demand. It measures roughly 3.5 × 5.75 inches — about the size of a real banknote — and is plate-signed (signed in the plate by the artist).
Why the currency motif matters
Fairey’s currency pieces borrow the visual language of money — engraved scrollwork, seals, serial numbers, ornate borders — and repurpose it as propaganda about power, consumerism, and obedience. The green side parodies the U.S. dollar with the OBEY star-face seal. The red side reframes industry and labor with a vintage printing press and the rallying line “Power to OBEY the People.”
The Supply & Demand framing is not incidental — that is the title of Fairey’s career retrospective, and these notes were produced around his 2007 gallery moment (the E Pluribus Venom show at Jonathan LeVine Gallery, NYC). The motif anchored his landmark gallery era, which is why this small object carries so much of his thesis in a single pocket-sized piece.
Shepard Fairey, in one paragraph you actually need
If you are new to the artist: Shepard Fairey (b. 1970) is one of the most influential American artists of his generation. He emerged from the 1990s skateboarding and street-art scene with his OBEY Giant campaign — an experiment in propaganda and public space that grew into a global visual language. In 2008 his Barack Obama "Hope" portrait became one of the most recognizable political images in modern history. His work is held by the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, LACMA, and the Smithsonian. New editions release through his OBEY studio, where limited runs routinely sell out and trade actively on the secondary market.
The OBEY method: how Fairey builds an image
To understand why any Fairey print works, it helps to understand how he builds an image. His visual system is borrowed, deliberately, from twentieth-century propaganda — Soviet constructivism, WPA posters, the hard symmetry of political printing. He strips those forms of their original message and reloads them. A star, a sunburst, a bordered portrait, a slab of stylized type: individually they are the furniture of persuasion. Assembled, they make the viewer feel the weight of a message before reading a single word.
The Deco framing and floral geometry that recur across his work are not ornament — they are the poster’s way of saying “this is important, this is public.” Fairey has spent three decades training viewers to read that grammar instantly, which is exactly why his editions read as coherent whether the subject is a boxer, a factory, or a flower.
The edition and how it reached the market
The note was issued in 2007 as an open edition — plate-signed rather than hand-signed — during the Supply & Demand / E Pluribus Venom period. Because it was open-edition and has long since sold out and gone out of print, the story here is scarcity through attrition: many were produced, but clean surviving examples have become genuinely sought-after by OBEY collectors.
Authentication: what actually backs a Fairey
This is the part collectors most often get wrong, so read it carefully.
Shepard Fairey does not issue an artist certificate of authenticity, and there is no third-party authentication board for his work — no Fairey equivalent of Banksy’s Pest Control. That is not a gap. It is how the entire Fairey market operates.
Authenticity for a signed Fairey rests on three things: the signature and numbering, the physical characteristics of the edition (paper stock, print process, edges, any embossed OBEY stamp), and provenance. Be skeptical of anyone selling a Fairey with a claim of "third-party authentication" or a certificate implying an official board signed off — no such board exists for his prints. A credible seller documents the signature, the numbering, the format, and the chain of ownership.
Condition: what to check, and why photographs matter
Condition drives value on paper works more than most first-time buyers expect. The things that move the needle are handling creases or corner dings, the brightness of the stock, whether the sheet has been trimmed or laid down, and any light-toning.
Because condition is specific to the individual sheet, treat the listing photographs as part of the condition report, not decoration. Zoom into the corners and the margins around the signature. If anything is unclear, ask for additional images — a reputable gallery will provide them. We do not assert a formal grade here; the photographs form part of the condition description.
What the market says
We are not going to invent a number here. As an open-edition small-format piece, the currency note trades on the secondary market rather than through a fixed edition price, and value depends heavily on condition — a crisp, uncreased example with sharp corners is a different object from a handled one. Treat any price you see elsewhere as directional and condition-dependent, and let the photographs do the talking.
Who this piece is for
This is an OBEY collector’s piece. It suits the completist filling in Fairey’s landmark Supply & Demand era, the small-format collector who values accessible, iconic OBEY works, and anyone drawn to the currency-as-propaganda idea. It is also a genuinely affordable entry point into a recognized OBEY “grail.”
How to buy a Fairey print — a short discipline
If this would be an early Fairey purchase, a little discipline saves a lot of regret.
Buy the specific sheet, not the image. Two examples of the same print at the same edition size are not the same asset if one has bright margins and crisp corners and the other has a soft crease and light-toning. Read the condition notes and the photographs as the real description; the title is just the headline.
Confirm the physical markers. Check that the signature, any date, and the numbering are present and legible, and that the format matches what a genuine example should be — paper stock, print process, deckled edges, and any embossed OBEY stamp.
Weigh documentation, not certificates. Because Fairey prints have no official COA and no third-party board, what protects you is a clear account of where the piece came from and a seller who describes it honestly. Be more comfortable with a well-documented sheet and no fancy certificate than with a glossy certificate and a vague story.
Set your number before you look at the price. Decide what the piece is worth to you given the market context, then see whether the offer fits. That order of operations is the single most useful habit in print collecting.
Living with the work: display and care
Once it is yours, a signed print on quality paper is a durable object that rewards a little care. Frame it with UV-protective glazing and an acid-free mat, and keep it off walls that take direct afternoon sun; cream stock is beautiful precisely because it has not yellowed, and light is the thing that yellows it. If the sheet has deckled edges, consider a float mount so the hand-cut edge shows rather than hiding under a window mat — on these prints, the deckle is part of what you paid for. None of this is expensive relative to the work, and all of it protects both the experience of ownership and the eventual resale.
Frequently asked questions
Is it hand-signed? No — it is plate-signed, meaning the signature is printed as part of the design, as issued.
What edition is it? An open edition from 2007, now sold out and out of print.
Does it come with a certificate? Fairey issues no artist COA and there is no third-party authentication board for his work. Authenticity rests on the documented format and provenance.
How big is it? Roughly 3.5 × 5.75 inches — banknote scale. Confirm against the specific note.
Is it framed? Refer to the current listing; condition is described per item and the photographs form part of that description.
The bottom line
The Two Sides of Capitalism banknote packs Fairey’s whole argument about money, power, and obedience into a note-sized object from his most important gallery era. Open-edition but long sold out, it is a small, iconic OBEY piece where condition is everything — so buy the specific note, and read the photographs as the description.
See the current example and full details at Gauntlet Gallery →
