Shepard Fairey / Obey Giant
"Ali Canvas Print" • Signed & Numbered • Edition of 450
Limited Edition Screen Print • 18" × 24" on Cream Speckletone Paper
Hand-Signed in Pencil • Obey Giant Embossed Blind Stamp • 2010
What You Are Getting
This is an authentic Shepard Fairey "Ali Canvas Print" limited edition screen print from an edition of 450, hand-signed and hand-numbered in pencil by the artist. The print carries the Obey Giant embossed blind stamp. Printed on cream Speckletone fine art paper at 18" × 24", this is a hand-pulled silkscreen released on May 13, 2010 — Fairey's commissioned portrait of Muhammad Ali and one of the most compelling works in the Canvas Portrait series.
The Ali Canvas was featured in Fairey's "MAY DAY" solo exhibition at Deitch Projects, 18 Wooster Street, New York City (May 1–29, 2010) — one of the most significant gallery presentations of Fairey's career, staged at a legendary SoHo space during Jeffrey Deitch's final year before becoming director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. The print represents a subject Fairey had wanted to tackle for years. In his own words: "I'm not a big fan of boxing, or organized sports in general, but athletic competition can highlight an inspiring human spirit to triumph over great odds. Muhammad Ali embodies that spirit, and his dogged tenacity led him to three heavyweight titles."
Print Details
| Artist |
Shepard Fairey / Obey Giant |
| Title |
"Ali Canvas Print" |
| Medium |
Screen print (silkscreen) on cream Speckletone fine art paper |
| Size |
18" × 24" (45.7 × 61 cm) |
| Year |
2010 — Released May 13, 2010 |
| Edition |
Edition of 450 — Hand-numbered limited edition |
| Signature |
Hand-signed in pencil by Shepard Fairey |
| Blind Stamp |
Obey Giant embossed blind stamp |
| Exhibition |
"MAY DAY" solo exhibition, Deitch Projects, New York City (May 2010) |
| Framing |
Unframed — Ships flat |
| Condition |
Excellent. See photos for full details. |
Authentication
HAND-SIGNED • EDITION OF 450 • OBEY GIANT BLIND STAMP
- Hand-signed in pencil by Shepard Fairey.
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Hand-numbered. Edition of 450, individually numbered by the artist.
-
Obey Giant embossed blind stamp. The Obey Giant studio's physical impression pressed directly into the paper — a tactile authentication marker that cannot be replicated by printing, scanning, or digital reproduction.
About the Work
The "Canvas" designation in Fairey's print titles carries a specific meaning. The composition is designed to simulate the look of a Fairey painting or hand-painted multiple (HPM) — with visible collage elements, layered textures, and what appear to be brush strokes in the background — while being entirely screen printed. The technique creates visual depth and tactile richness that reads as mixed media at a glance, but the precision is pure silkscreen. This is Fairey collapsing the distance between his fine art canvases and his editioned prints — giving the edition buyer a composition that carries the weight and complexity of a unique work.
Ali's portrait is rendered through Fairey's signature posterization: photographic tonality reduced to hard-edged color fields that transform a photograph into a graphic icon. The face carries Ali's trademark intensity — the focused gaze, the set jaw, the coiled energy of an athlete who understood that presence was as much a weapon as a left hook. Fairey frames Ali not as a sports figure but as a cultural and political force: a conscientious objector to the Vietnam War, a figure whose verbal pyrotechnics anticipated hip-hop, and a man whose refusal to be defined by a single identity — boxer, activist, entertainer, Muslim — made him one of the twentieth century's most potent symbols of individual defiance against institutional power.
This is precisely the territory Fairey's work occupies. The Obey Giant project has always been about the power of images to command attention, obedience, and resistance. Ali's face — one of the most recognized on the planet — becomes, in Fairey's hands, a study in how iconography is built: through repetition, through media, through the sheer force of a personality that refused to be contained. The background layers of distressed texture and collage fragments embed Ali within the visual grammar of propaganda and mass communication that runs through all of Fairey's work, while the portrait itself transcends that system through pure charisma.
The Canvas Portrait series: The Ali Canvas belongs to Fairey's 2010 series of portrait prints honoring cultural icons who shaped the creative and political landscape he engages with. The series includes "Basquiat Canvas" (Jean-Michel Basquiat, released May 1) and "Keith Haring Canvas" in both red (May 20) and green (May 24) colorways — each rendering its subject through Fairey's graphic language. Where the Basquiat portrait carries contemplative intensity and the Haring portraits radiate kinetic energy, the Ali Canvas projects raw physical and moral force. Together, the three subjects — a painter, a street artist, and a boxer — map the territory of defiance, creativity, and cultural power that defines Fairey's artistic worldview.
"MAY DAY" at Deitch Projects: The Ali Canvas was featured in Fairey's "MAY DAY" solo exhibition at Deitch Projects (18 Wooster Street, New York City, May 1–29, 2010). Deitch Projects was one of the most influential contemporary art galleries of its era, and this show represented a major institutional presentation of Fairey's work in the heart of SoHo. The exhibition took place during Jeffrey Deitch's final year running the gallery before his appointment as director of MOCA Los Angeles — making it part of a pivotal moment in both Fairey's career and the New York gallery landscape.
Why This Print Works on a Wall
Ali's face is one of the most universally recognizable in modern history, and Fairey's graphic treatment amplifies that recognition into something monumental. The posterized portrait has the visual scale of a billboard even at 18" × 24" — the hard-edged tonal breaks and bold color fields project across a room in a way that photographic portraits cannot. The simulated canvas texture gives the print a warmth and material presence that distinguishes it from Fairey's cleaner political editions, making it equally at home in a sports collection, a contemporary art display, or a living space where a single commanding image sets the tone. The Ali Canvas pairs naturally with the Basquiat and Haring Canvas prints for collectors building the complete series, but it also stands powerfully on its own — Ali's gaze does not share a wall easily, and it doesn't need to.
About the Artist
Shepard Fairey (b. 1970, Charleston, South Carolina) emerged from the skateboard and punk scenes to become one of the most influential street artists and graphic designers of his generation. His "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" sticker campaign, launched in 1989, evolved into the globally recognized OBEY brand. The 2008 "Hope" poster for Barack Obama's presidential campaign cemented Fairey's place at the intersection of art, politics, and mass visual culture.
Fairey's signed limited editions form one of the most liquid and well-documented secondary markets in contemporary street art, with active trading through major auction houses including Christie's, Sotheby's, and Heritage Auctions. The Ali Canvas Print has appeared at Sotheby's in the "Sound and Vision: The Prints of Shepard Fairey" sale (2021), confirming its place among Fairey's most collected portrait editions.
About Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali (1942–2016), born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. in Louisville, Kentucky, is widely regarded as the greatest heavyweight boxer in history and one of the most significant cultural figures of the twentieth century. He won the world heavyweight championship three times, compiled a professional record of 56–5, and revolutionized the sport through speed, footwork, and an unprecedented gift for self-promotion and psychological warfare.
Beyond boxing, Ali's refusal to be inducted into the U.S. military during the Vietnam War — a stand that cost him his title, his boxing license, and three years of his prime — made him a global symbol of principled resistance. His conversion to Islam, his verbal artistry, and his willingness to sacrifice his career for his beliefs positioned Ali at the intersection of sports, politics, race, and religion in ways that continue to resonate. As Fairey noted, Ali's boastful wordplay is considered a predecessor to rap, and his influence extends far beyond the ring into art, literature, film, and the broader culture of resistance.
What Is Included
-
Shepard Fairey "Ali Canvas Print" screen print — 18" × 24" on cream Speckletone paper
-
Hand-signed and hand-numbered by Shepard Fairey — Edition of 450
- Obey Giant embossed blind stamp
Ships unframed, flat, with protective materials.
Who This Is For
This print is ideal for Shepard Fairey collectors looking for one of the strongest portrait editions in his catalog — a commissioned work with Deitch Projects exhibition provenance and Sotheby's auction history, Muhammad Ali collectors and sports memorabilia enthusiasts seeking a fine art treatment that elevates Ali beyond the boxing context into the cultural and political icon he became, collectors building the complete Canvas Portrait series alongside the Basquiat and Keith Haring editions, or anyone who wants a single print that carries the visual authority to own a wall. Ali's combination of athletic greatness, political courage, and cultural magnetism makes this one of the most universally resonant subjects in Fairey's entire print output.
Also available from our store: We carry a growing collection of Shepard Fairey signed limited edition screen prints spanning political, portrait, and collage work — including "Basquiat Canvas" (2010), "Keith Haring Canvas – Green Colorway" (2010), "DEMAGOGUE" (2016), "Endless Power", "Lennon Peace and Liberty" (2023), "Collage Icon (Top)", and prints from the Damaged exhibition (2017). Search "Gauntlet Gallery" on eBay to browse the full selection.
Shipping
This screen print ships flat with protective materials to prevent surface contact, bending, and corner damage during transit. Fully insured with tracking. International shipping available upon request.
GAUNTLET GALLERY
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Browse our full collection of signed prints, authenticated memorabilia, and rare collectibles.
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Questions? Message us anytime — happy to provide additional photos or details. Serious collectors welcome.
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SHEPARD FAIREY
Few contemporary artists have bridged underground culture and institutional recognition as effectively as Shepard Fairey. Emerging from skate and punk subcultures with the original Obey Giant campaign, he built a visual language rooted in propaganda aesthetics, bold iconography, and political commentary.
What makes Fairey compelling for collectors isn’t just name recognition — it’s durability. His work sits at the intersection of activism, design, and pop culture. \
From the globally recognized Hope poster to decades of tightly controlled screenprint editions, he has demonstrated both cultural relevance and disciplined market structure.
Institutional validation from MoMA, the Smithsonian, and the V&A reinforces long-term credibility. Meanwhile, secondary market data shows consistent liquidity and steady appreciation across core prints.
For collectors, this is cultural equity with infrastructure behind it — not trend-driven volatility.
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