Shepard Fairey

Authenticated Shepard Fairey

Shepard Fairey

Limited editions. Institutional provenance. Blue-chip returns.

$250 Median sale

31,786 Comps tracked

$46K Top result

Shepard Fairey, born in 1970, is an American contemporary artist, designer, and founder of OBEY Giant. He emerged from skate, punk, sticker, and street culture, beginning with the 'Andre the Giant Has a Posse' campaign in 1989. Over time, Fairey's work moved from street-level visual disruption into museums, political campaigns, music culture, and the global print market. His 2008 Obama “Hope” image became one of the most recognizable political images of the twenty-first century and is held by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery.

Fairey’s work often explores power, dissent, war, media, capitalism, surveillance, music, propaganda, and public influence. His visual language uses high-contrast red, black, cream, and blue palettes; stencil-like portraiture; bold typography; repeated patterns; and propaganda-inspired composition. Many works reduce complex political or cultural ideas into direct, poster-like images that can be understood quickly but interpreted more deeply over time.

Fairey is best known for OBEY iconography, the Obama “Hope” image, anti-war works, political graphics, music portraits, environmental imagery, and signed limited-edition prints. Gauntlet’s market focus is narrower than the full Fairey universe: signed, numbered standard editions. These works are especially useful for pricing analysis because title, year, edition size, condition, documentation, framing, and collector demand can be compared across historical sales. Older Fairey prints can be mispriced across marketplaces because some lack modern COAs, while others are confused with APs, PPs, HPMs, unsigned versions, or alternate editions.

Key years: 1989 OBEY campaign; 2008 Obama “Hope”

Gauntlet focus: signed, numbered standard-edition prints

Primary value drivers: title, year, edition size, condition, documentation, signed/numbered status

Documentation risk: older works may lack modern COAs; AP, PP, HPM, unsigned, and wrong-edition confusion matter

Born 1970, Charleston, South Carolina

Based Los Angeles, California

Known for OBEY Giant campaign and Obama HOPE poster

Curator's Take

Why Fairey belongs in a serious contemporary collection

Tightly controlled drop schedules. MoMA + Smithsonian validation. 5-year CAGR of 5.4% with 50% cumulative appreciation since 2019. Fairey is not a poster artist — he's a market.

Most collectors mistake Fairey for political iconography. The serious collector buys him for edition discipline. Each numbered Obey print sits inside a documented release window — and that's why his secondary market behaves like a real market, not a hype cycle.

— Gauntlet Gallery Curators

Frequently Asked