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

Artist Statement

ZEPPELIN Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 100

Summary

Zeppelin is a 1997 screen print published by Obey Giant in a first edition of 100, measuring 18 x 24 inches. The work centers on airship imagery, rendered through Fairey's early propaganda-poster style with bold graphic framing and a limited palette. By isolating a vintage aircraft as a graphic emblem, the print taps the retro-industrial and aviation motifs that recur across his late-1990s output. As an early hand-pulled Obey Giant screen print in a small edition, it belongs to his foundational period of translating the OBEY street campaign into collectible editions.

Why It Matters

Zeppelin sits within Fairey's late-1990s catalog of editioned screen prints, where he frequently isolated industrial and aviation imagery as bold graphic emblems within his propaganda framing. The airship motif evokes a retro-industrial aesthetic that complements his recurring fascination with machines, power, and the visual language of early-twentieth-century propaganda. Made in 1997 as an early Obey Giant print in a first edition of 100, it belongs to the formative period when he was consolidating his graphic vocabulary before his Obama-era prominence. For a Fairey collection it matters as part of the propaganda-pop series, adding an aviation-and-machinery note alongside his leader portraits and military emblems from the same years. The source supplies no pricing, signature, or market data, so its significance rests on subject, style, date, and edition size rather than any documented sales history, and the interpretation here stays grounded in those supplied facts.

Collector Perspective

Zeppelin appeals to collectors drawn to Fairey's industrial and aviation imagery and to bold single-icon graphics. Its retro airship motif makes a distinctive wall piece and a complementary addition to a grouping of his late-1990s propaganda-pop prints. Collectors mapping his formative period will value it as a 1997 edition of 100 from the Obey Giant catalog. It pairs naturally with his other 1997-1998 machine and military prints, broadening a themed cluster beyond portraits. The 18 x 24 inch format frames conventionally and fits a coordinated display of related early works.

Historical Context

Zeppelin dates to 1997, during the formative Obey Giant period when Fairey was building editioned screen prints from his OBEY street practice. Its airship subject reflects the retro-industrial imagery he often paired with propaganda framing, drawing on the machine aesthetics of early-twentieth-century graphic design. The print belongs to the 1997-1998 cluster of editions of 100 that established his propaganda-inspired idiom. Within his arc, Zeppelin shows him expanding his emblem vocabulary beyond political figures into industrial and aviation motifs, situating it among the foundational graphic works that preceded his later, more explicitly political output.

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Related Works

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

Tank1997 · Same-year first edition pairing machine imagery with Fairey's propaganda style.

Grenade1998 · Adjacent militarized-object print extending the machine-and-weaponry motif.

Stalin Cabinet1997 · Same 1997 first edition from the early Obey Giant catalog.

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

Stalin1998 · Companion late-1990s propaganda print from the same run.