Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Rollins Poster”?
Artist Statement
ROLLINS POSTER Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 300 Image of Henry Rollins, the front man for Rollins Band and Black Flag. This print is part of the Punk set, which was released just after the death of Joe Strummer, in 2002.
Summary
Rollins Poster is a 2002 screen print by Shepard Fairey, published by Obey Giant in a first edition of 300, measuring 18 x 24 inches. It depicts Henry Rollins, frontman of Black Flag and the Rollins Band, rendered in Fairey's high-contrast graphic poster style. Part of his Punk set, released just after Joe Strummer's death in 2002, the print honors a major figure in American hardcore punk. The work uses bold flat fields and stylized portraiture, situating it within Fairey's music and counterculture themes alongside the other Punk-set portraits from the same year.
Why It Matters
Rollins Poster honors Henry Rollins, a defining voice of American hardcore punk through Black Flag and later the Rollins Band, extending Fairey's Punk set across the Atlantic from British punk into the US hardcore scene. Rollins's intense, confrontational persona and his role in the DIY hardcore movement made him a natural subject for Fairey, whose own practice grew out of that same self-published, anti-establishment ethos. As part of the Punk set released around Joe Strummer's 2002 death, the print belongs to a memorial-framed grouping that ties Fairey's aesthetic directly to the punk culture that shaped him. With a first edition of 300, it is a defined edition documenting a key figure in the genre. For collectors, Rollins Poster broadens the Punk set's scope and offers a portrait of a still-active cultural figure, valued both as a tribute to American hardcore and as part of the cohesive cluster of punk portraits that anchors Fairey's early-2000s music output and reveals the countercultural roots of his graphic language.
Collector Perspective
Rollins Poster appeals to collectors of Fairey's punk portraiture and to fans of Black Flag and Henry Rollins specifically, extending a Punk-set collection into American hardcore. At 18 x 24 inches it frames cleanly and pairs naturally with the Strummer, Rotten, and Ramone posters from the same year. The edition of 300 makes it moderately limited, attractive to collectors seeking an authentic early Fairey music print. Its recognizable subject and bold graphic treatment give it strong presence in a music-themed or counterculture display. For those building the complete Punk set, it is an essential component, and its tribute to a major US hardcore figure adds breadth to a punk-focused grouping.
Historical Context
Rollins Poster dates to 2002, within Fairey's posters-and-propaganda period and his active early-2000s screen-printing run, well before his 2008 Obama-era prominence. It is part of the Punk set released around the time of Joe Strummer's death that year. Henry Rollins, through Black Flag and the Rollins Band, was central to American hardcore punk and its DIY culture, a movement whose self-published ethos paralleled Fairey's own. Within his arc, the print documents how Fairey extended his punk tribute from British to American figures and reflects the hardcore and DIY influences that underpin the graphic and political sensibility evident across his broader catalog.
FAQ
Who does Rollins Poster depict?
It depicts Henry Rollins, the frontman for Black Flag and the Rollins Band, rendered in Fairey's high-contrast graphic poster style. The print is part of his Punk set, released just after Joe Strummer's death in 2002, honoring a major American hardcore figure.
What are the dimensions and edition size?
The print measures 18 x 24 inches and was released as a first edition of 300 screen prints by Obey Giant in 2002, making it a moderately limited edition from Fairey's early catalog.
What set does this print belong to?
Rollins Poster is part of Fairey's Punk set, released just after Joe Strummer's 2002 death. The set includes the Strummer, Rotten, and Ramone posters, forming a focused grouping of punk portraits spanning British and American figures.
How does it relate to Fairey's other Rollins-related work?
Fairey later referenced the Rollins Band again in his 2006 As The World Burns print pairing Rollins Band and X. Rollins Poster is the earlier, dedicated 2002 portrait of Henry Rollins within the Punk set.
Related Works
About the Artist
Shepard Fairey (b. 1970, Charleston, South Carolina) is an American street artist, graphic designer, and activist, and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. His 1989 “André the Giant Has a Posse” sticker grew into the global OBEY GIANT campaign — an ongoing experiment in propaganda, obedience, and visual culture. He reached worldwide recognition with the 2008 “Hope” portrait of Barack Obama, now held by the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery. Across screen prints, stencils, murals, and collage, Fairey channels propaganda aesthetics toward themes of peace, justice, environmentalism, and civil rights. His work is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Victoria & Albert Museum, and LACMA.