Artist Statement
“The first-ever collaboration between Shepard and the estate of legendary photographer Jim Marshall, American Civics, debuts this month! Shepard is interpreting Marshall's iconic photography from the 1960's, including images of Johnny Cash, Cesar Chavez, and Fannie Lee Chaney, with five new works, vividly depicting the humanity behind some of the country's enduring social issues: Voting Rights, Mass Incarceration, Worker's Rights, Gun Culture, and Two Americas. "In the past, I was doing Johnny Cash images for art or commercial products. In this case, Johnny Cash has a different use. It's a gat
About This Print
Mass Incarceration is a 2016 screen print from Shepard Fairey's American Civics series, his first collaboration with the estate of photographer Jim Marshall. Using a Johnny Cash image as a gateway, Fairey weaves in Martin Luther King's mug shot, the prisoner's bill of rights, and Public Enemy references, both the Prohibition-era headline phrase and the hip-hop group whose song addresses a prison break. Published by San Francisco Art Exchange in a first edition of 100, the print measures 40 x 30 inches. One of five works on enduring social issues, it layers cultural references to interrogate the American carceral system.
Market Context
No recorded public sales >= $100 - pieces like this are typically held long-term by investors/collectors, were destroyed or consumed, or do not surface on the open market.