What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Supply And Demand (Red)”?

Artist Statement

SUPPLY AND DEMAND RED Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 300

Summary

Supply And Demand (Red) is a 2004 Shepard Fairey screen print, published by Obey Giant in an edition of 300 and measuring 18 x 24 inches; the source lists a Red and a Black variant. The title "Supply and Demand" became the name Fairey uses for his broader practice and retrospective, framing his work through the language of markets and commerce. The print uses his propaganda-poster vocabulary with bold red and black graphics. As a mid-2000s Obey Giant edition, it engages directly with themes of capitalism, branding, and consumer culture.

Why It Matters

Supply And Demand is among Fairey's most loaded phrases: he adopted it as the title of his major retrospective and monograph, using the economic term to interrogate the relationship between art, branding, and the marketplace. This 2004 red screen print engages that idea head-on, turning the cool vocabulary of commerce into a graphic statement about value, scarcity, and consumer culture. For collectors, the conceptual weight is significant, the phrase is central to how Fairey frames his entire body of work, and owning an early print carrying the title connects to that overarching theme. The source notes both Red and Black variants in the edition of 300, giving collectors a recognizable color choice within an accessible format. Grouped with other commerce- and pop-culture-themed prints, it reads as a self-aware comment on how Fairey both critiques and participates in the market for images. Because the record supplies only year, edition, dimensions, and color variants, the importance here is interpretive, but the resonance of the title within Fairey's career makes this a conceptually weighty piece despite its modest format.

Collector Perspective

Supply And Demand (Red) draws collectors interested in Fairey's critique of commerce and his self-aware relationship to the market, given that the phrase titles his retrospective and monograph. At 18 x 24 inches in an edition of 300 with a striking red-and-black palette, it is accessible and graphically bold on the wall. The existence of Red and Black variants gives buyers a color preference and an opportunity to collect both. It fits cleanly into a thematic grouping around corporate critique and OBEY iconography, and rewards owners who value the conceptual framing of Fairey's work. A strong, legible mid-2000s anchor for a collection that leans toward his commentary on capitalism and branding.

Historical Context

Supply And Demand (Red) dates to the mid-2000s, after Fairey's 1989 Andre the Giant sticker campaign, during the period when Obey Giant was issuing regular screen-print editions and Fairey was articulating the market-and-branding framework that would define his self-presentation. The phrase "Supply and Demand" later titled his career retrospective and book, making this 2004 print an early carrier of a concept central to his identity. Released before the 2008 Obama "Hope" breakthrough, it belongs to the propaganda-and-posters phase. As one of several 2004 Obey Giant editions of 300, with Red and Black colorways noted in the source, it documents Fairey's ongoing effort to fold commentary on capitalism into his own commercial practice.

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Related Works

Joey Ramone (Red)2005 · Close-period red colorway Obey Giant edition of 300, similar format and palette.

Slick Rick (Red)2004 · Same 2004 year with a red variant from the same studio run.

LL Cool J (Red)2003 · Nearby-period red-variant Obey Giant edition in matching format.

Nouveau (Red)2006 · Shares the red-and-black colorway and mid-2000s Obey Giant context.

Hostile Takeover (Red)2007 · Related red-and-black print engaging commerce and corporate critique themes.