Two Sides of Capitalism Red/Green Bill by Shepard Fairey: Collector Guide, Value & What to Know
Yes — the Shepard Fairey Two Sides of Capitalism: Red/Green Bill print is worth buying for serious collectors. This provocative screen print belongs to Fairey's ongoing series interrogating consumer culture, currency, and the contradictions baked into capitalist systems. It pairs instantly recognizable currency iconography with Fairey's signature propaganda-poster palette, making it one of the more intellectually loaded works in his catalog. Dual-narrative prints like this one attract both longtime OBEY collectors and buyers with a broader interest in political art, which keeps demand — and secondary-market prices — stable over time.
About Two Sides of Capitalism: Red/Green Bill
Capitalism — its promises, its failures, and the tension between the two — has been a recurring subject in Shepard Fairey's work since the early OBEY Giant years. The Two Sides of Capitalism series distills that tension into currency itself: the bill, the universal symbol of exchange, recast as a battlefield of competing ideologies. By manipulating the visual grammar of money — a design language most people absorb passively every day — Fairey forces the viewer to reckon with what currency actually represents. The red and green colorway amplifies this: red for struggle, resistance, and warning; green for the dollar, growth, and the aspirational promise of wealth. Together they make an argument the image doesn't need to spell out.
Fairey has consistently used printed money as a canvas for cultural critique, drawing lineage from Warhol's commodity art and the Situationist tradition of détournement — hijacking the symbols of consumer culture to expose their assumptions. The Red/Green Bill variant is among the most visually striking in the series precisely because the color contrast is both aesthetically bold and semantically loaded. Collectors who understand the conceptual underpinning recognize this print as more than decoration; it is a position. That ideological clarity is part of what makes it hold value across economic cycles — political art tends to age into relevance rather than out of it.
The Print — What You Are Getting
This is a hand-pulled screen print produced by the OBEY Giant studio, the Fairey operation that has set the standard for limited-edition street-art multiples since the late 1990s. Standard format is 18x24 inches, the workhorse dimension in Fairey's catalog — large enough to anchor a wall, small enough to frame without custom carpentry. Screen printing at the OBEY studio means layered ink deposits, rich opacity, and tactile surface quality that digital reproductions simply cannot replicate. The visual style here is classic Fairey: bold flat color fields, high-contrast silhouettes, and the kind of graphic authority that borrows from Soviet constructivist posters and American WPA prints in equal measure. Edition sizes for standard OBEY releases typically fall in the 150–450 range, keeping each print genuinely limited while ensuring the work reaches a meaningful audience. Each copy is individually numbered and signed, so every edition number in the run is its own discrete object.
Authentication and Provenance
OBEY Giant studio documentation is the authentication standard for Shepard Fairey prints — full stop. Authentic copies carry a pencil signature in the lower right, an edition number in the format XX/YYY written in pencil, and the OBEY blind-deboss seal pressed into the paper stock. These three elements, present together, are the authentication. No third-party certificate of authenticity is required or formally recognized for Fairey works; in fact, the presence of a third-party COA on a Fairey print can sometimes signal a secondary-market transaction without proper vetting rather than add confidence. When buying, confirm the blind-deboss seal is crisp and the pencil markings are consistent with studio production. Provenance documentation from the original sale — receipts, correspondence with the OBEY store — adds value and ease of resale but is secondary to the physical markers on the print itself.
Value in Context
Within the Fairey market, conceptually driven works with a strong political identity occupy a distinct tier. The Two Sides of Capitalism series sits above purely decorative releases because its subject matter gives it staying power — economic and political tensions don't go out of style. The red/green colorway is among the more striking variants in the run, which matters in a catalog where color choice can move secondary prices meaningfully. Works in this conceptual vein from Fairey typically enter the secondary market at multiples of their original release price once editions sell through; the combination of limited print runs, institutional interest in Fairey's political work, and a collector base that spans fine art and activism keeps the floor firm. Contact Gauntlet Gallery directly for current pricing on this specific piece — street art market values shift with auction results and new release activity, and we track the secondary market continuously to give buyers accurate, up-to-date guidance.
FAQ
Is the Shepard Fairey Two Sides of Capitalism Red/Green Bill print authentic?
Authentic examples carry three physical markers applied at the OBEY Giant studio: a pencil signature in the lower right corner, a hand-written edition number (XX/YYY) in pencil, and the OBEY blind-deboss seal pressed into the paper. These three elements together confirm studio provenance. No third-party certificate of authenticity is required or formally recognized for Fairey prints.
What is the Shepard Fairey Two Sides of Capitalism Red/Green Bill print worth?
Conceptually driven Fairey political prints in this series typically trade on the secondary market at meaningful premiums over original release prices once editions sell through. The red/green colorway's strong visual contrast supports secondary demand. Contact Gauntlet Gallery for a current, accurate price based on live market comparables.
Where can I buy the Shepard Fairey Two Sides of Capitalism Red/Green Bill print?
Gauntlet Gallery carries authenticated Shepard Fairey screen prints with full provenance documentation. Browse the collection at gauntlet.gallery/collections/shepard-fairey or contact us directly for availability on this specific piece.
For a deeper look at Fairey's catalog, authentication standards across his full body of work, and what separates a strong buy from an average one, read the Gauntlet Gallery Shepard Fairey Collector Guide.
Browse all available Shepard Fairey prints at Gauntlet Gallery →
