Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Mr Spray”?
Artist Statement
MR SPRAY Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 300
Summary
Mr Spray is a 2004 Shepard Fairey screen print, published by Obey Giant in a First Edition of 300 and measuring 18 x 24 inches. The title references the spray can, a foundational tool of street art and graffiti, celebrating the materials and culture from which Fairey's practice emerged. The work uses his graphic propaganda-poster vocabulary with bold flat color and strong design. As a mid-2000s Obey Giant edition on paper, it sits among his studio releases that nod to street-art identity and urban visual culture.
Why It Matters
Mr Spray pays homage to the spray can, the defining instrument of graffiti and street art, the very world Fairey came up in before becoming a gallery and print artist. By personifying the tool as "Mr Spray," he honors the materials and the rebellious, self-made culture at the root of his practice. For collectors, the print is a statement of allegiance: it foregrounds Fairey's street-art DNA at a moment when his work was increasingly entering galleries and editions. The edition of 300 keeps it accessible, while its subject gives it a clear place within a thematic grouping of OBEY iconography and urban culture pieces. It belongs to the same 2004 cluster as other studio-branded and pop-culture editions, and reads as an affectionate, design-forward tribute to where Fairey's visual language originated. Because the source provides only year, edition, dimensions, and medium, the significance here is interpretive, but the celebration of street-art tools is a recurring thread that ties this print to the larger story of how graffiti culture fed his now-iconic style.
Collector Perspective
Mr Spray appeals to collectors who prize Fairey's street-art roots and the graffiti culture behind his practice. At 18 x 24 inches in an edition of 300, it is an attainable piece that fits naturally into a grouping of OBEY iconography and urban-themed works. Its homage to the spray can makes it especially resonant for buyers with a connection to street art and graffiti, where the subject reads instantly. It displays well alongside other 2004 Obey Giant editions and rewards owners who value the cultural origins of Fairey's style as much as the finished poster. A solid, accessible mid-2000s anchor for a street-art-leaning collection.
Historical Context
Mr Spray comes from the mid-2000s, after Fairey's 1989 Andre the Giant sticker campaign, during the years when Obey Giant was issuing steady screen-print editions and his work was moving from the street into galleries. A tribute to the spray can situates the print within Fairey's ongoing acknowledgment of his graffiti and street-art origins, the foundation on which his OBEY brand was built. Released before his 2008 Obama "Hope" image, it belongs to the propaganda-and-posters phase of his output. As one of several 2004 Obey Giant editions of 300, it documents a period when Fairey was reconciling his street-culture identity with a growing studio and print enterprise.
FAQ
What does Mr Spray refer to?
The title personifies the spray can, the foundational tool of graffiti and street art. It pays homage to the materials and culture from which Fairey's practice emerged, foregrounding his street-art roots at a time when his work was moving into galleries and editions.
When was it released and in what edition?
The record confirms a 2004 release by Obey Giant as a First Edition screen print in an edition of 300, placing it among the accessible mid-2000s Obey Giant releases on paper.
What are the dimensions and medium?
It is a screen print measuring 18 x 24 inches, as stated in the source description, rendered in Fairey's flat-color, graphic poster style.
How does it fit in Fairey's career?
It comes from the mid-2000s, after the 1989 OBEY sticker campaign and before the 2008 Obama image. As a tribute to spray-can culture, it reflects Fairey's ongoing acknowledgment of the graffiti and street-art origins of his now-iconic OBEY style.
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.