What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Tank”?

Artist Statement

Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 100

Summary

Tank is a 1997 screen print published by Obey Giant in a first edition of 100, measuring 18 x 24 inches. The work centers on military imagery, rendered through Fairey's early propaganda-poster style with bold graphic framing and a limited palette. By isolating an icon of armed state power, the print engages his recurring interrogation of militarism and the aesthetics of authority. As an early hand-pulled Obey Giant screen print in a small edition, it sits within his foundational late-1990s output that repurposes the visual language of propaganda to question power and force.

Why It Matters

Tank comes from Fairey's late-1990s period of building editioned screen prints that scrutinize power, militarism, and propaganda imagery. Foregrounding an instrument of state force, the work channels the anti-authoritarian undercurrent of the OBEY project into a single graphic emblem, asking viewers to register how military might is pictured and normalized. Its 1997 date and first edition of 100 place it among the early hand-pulled Obey Giant prints collectors treat as formative. In a Fairey holding, Tank matters as a concentrated statement on militarism that complements his appropriated-leader portraits from the same years, rounding out the propaganda-critique thread with imagery of armament rather than personality. The source includes no pricing, signature, or market data, so its significance rests on subject, date, and edition size rather than any documented sales record, and the interpretation here stays anchored to those supplied facts.

Collector Perspective

Tank suits collectors drawn to Fairey's militarism and anti-authoritarian themes and to bold single-icon graphics. Its stark subject reads clearly from a distance, making it an effective focal point on a wall or within a themed cluster of his late-1990s propaganda prints. Collectors mapping his foundational period will value it as an early edition of 100 from the Obey Giant catalog. It pairs naturally with his 1997-1998 leader portraits and military-themed works, reinforcing the power-and-force motif. The 18 x 24 inch format frames easily and complements a grouping of related early prints.

Historical Context

Tank dates to 1997, when Fairey was translating the OBEY street campaign into a body of editioned screen prints under Obey Giant. The work's military emblem aligns with his broader use of propaganda imagery to interrogate state power, a stance rooted in the satirical obedience theme of the OBEY project. It belongs to the 1997-1998 cluster of editions of 100 that established his propaganda-inspired idiom before his Obama-era visibility. Within his arc, Tank shows him distilling critique into a single forceful icon, situating it among the early graphic statements that anticipate his later, more explicitly political work.

FAQ

Related Works

Che1997 · Same 1997 Obey Giant edition of 100 in the propaganda-pop series.

Stalin Cabinet1997 · Same-year first edition pairing state-power imagery with Fairey's propaganda style.

Zeppelin1997 · Fellow 1997 edition of 100 from the early Obey Giant prints.

Grenade1998 · Closely related militarized-object print continuing the weaponry motif.

50's Guy1997 · Same 1997 first edition in the pop-culture group of early prints.

Stalin1998 · Adjacent late-1990s power-and-authority print from the same run.