Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Join The Posse”?
Artist Statement
Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 100
Summary
Join The Posse is a 1997 screen print published by Obey Giant in a first edition of 100, measuring 18 x 24 inches. The work draws on Fairey's core OBEY iconography and propaganda-poster style, pairing a recruiting-style call to action with his bold graphic framing and limited palette. The source tags OBEY iconography as a secondary theme, situating the print within the brand's self-referential visual world. As an early hand-pulled Obey Giant screen print, it belongs to his foundational late-1990s output translating the OBEY street campaign into collectible editions.
Why It Matters
Join The Posse plays on the recruiting-poster rhetoric that Fairey repeatedly mines, turning the language of mobilization toward his own invented OBEY world. Tagged with OBEY iconography in the source, it sits among the prints that build out the brand's self-referential mythology rather than appropriating an outside political figure, which gives it particular value for collectors focused on core OBEY imagery. Made in 1997 as an early Obey Giant screen print, it reflects his strategy of borrowing the visual grammar of propaganda and advertising to satirize obedience and group identity. Its first edition of 100 and early date place it in his formative period. The print matters as an example of how Fairey weaponizes familiar call-to-action tropes within his own iconography. The source provides no pricing, signature, or market data, so its significance rests on subject, theme, date, and edition size rather than documented sales history.
Collector Perspective
Join The Posse appeals to collectors centered on OBEY iconography and on Fairey's play with propaganda and advertising rhetoric. Its recruiting-poster framing reads instantly and makes a punchy wall piece, working well within a grouping of his core OBEY-brand prints from the late 1990s. As a 1997 edition of 100, it is a foundational period piece for a Fairey collection. It pairs naturally with his other Giant-face and OBEY-branded works of the same era, reinforcing the brand-mythology thread. The 18 x 24 inch format frames conventionally and suits a clustered display of related early prints.
Historical Context
Join The Posse dates to 1997, during the formative Obey Giant period when Fairey was converting the OBEY street campaign into editioned screen prints. Its recruiting-poster styling reflects his consistent borrowing of propaganda and advertising tropes to build and satirize the OBEY mythology. Tagged with OBEY iconography, it belongs to the cluster of late-1990s prints that fleshed out the brand's internal visual world rather than appropriating outside figures. Within his arc, the work shows him using the rhetoric of mobilization and group identity as raw material, situating it among the foundational graphic statements that preceded his broader political and Obama-era work.
FAQ
When was Join The Posse released?
Join The Posse was released in 1997 and published by Obey Giant, Shepard Fairey's print imprint. It belongs to his foundational late-1990s body of hand-pulled screen prints.
What is the edition size?
According to the record, it is a first edition of 100. No additional editions of this print are listed in the source data.
What is the medium and size?
It is a screen print measuring 18 x 24 inches, as stated in the source, produced as a hand-pulled screen print in Fairey's early propaganda style.
How does it relate to OBEY iconography?
The source tags OBEY iconography as a secondary theme. The print uses recruiting-poster rhetoric within Fairey's own OBEY world, building out the brand's self-referential mythology rather than appropriating an outside figure.
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.