Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Muslim Woman (HPM)”?
Artist Statement
Hand Painted Multiple from White Walls Gallery show, April 1, 2006.
Summary
Muslim Woman (HPM) is a 2006 Shepard Fairey hand-painted multiple published by Modern Multiples, measuring 29 x 42 inches. Created for Fairey's White Walls Gallery show on April 1, 2006, this large-format HPM combines screen printing with hand-applied paint and collage, making each example individually worked and unique. The image presents a woman in a portrait centered on civil-rights and justice themes, rendered in Fairey's decorative, propaganda-influenced style. Issued at $2,200, the HPM format distinguishes it from his standard editioned screen prints as a more substantial, gallery-oriented work.
Why It Matters
Muslim Woman (HPM) is a significant work because it unites two of the most important strands in Fairey's practice: his recurring portraits of women as figures of resistance and dignity, and his hand-painted multiple format, the medium that elevates his graphic work into the gallery sphere. HPMs are individually finished, combining screen printing with hand-applied paint and collage so that no two are identical, which sets them well apart from his open and editioned prints in both scale and value. Created for a White Walls Gallery show in 2006, this piece engages civil-rights and justice themes by centering a Muslim woman at a moment of heightened cultural and political attention to Muslim identity, lending the work a pointed contemporary relevance. For collectors, the combination of large 29 x 42 inch format, unique hand-finishing, and a charged subject makes this one of the more ambitious and collectible works in Fairey's mid-2000s output. It connects to his broader series of revolutionary and iconic women, a thread he has developed consistently across his career, and it stands as a gallery-grade statement piece rather than a mass-market print. The work rewards collectors who value uniqueness, scale, and socially engaged portraiture.
Collector Perspective
This HPM targets serious collectors seeking unique, gallery-grade Fairey works rather than standard editioned prints. As a hand-painted multiple, each example is individually finished with paint and collage, giving it the one-of-a-kind appeal and the higher value tier that distinguish HPMs in the market. The large 29 x 42 inch format makes it a commanding centerpiece rather than a supporting wall piece. It fits naturally into a collection focused on Fairey's portraits of women and his civil-rights themes, and pairs well with his other revolutionary-woman works. Buyers drawn to scale, uniqueness, and socially engaged subject matter, and who collect at a higher price point, are the core audience for this gallery-oriented release.
Historical Context
Muslim Woman (HPM) was created for Fairey's White Walls Gallery show on April 1, 2006, and published through Modern Multiples, the Los Angeles printer long associated with his hand-painted multiples. By the mid-2000s Fairey was using the HPM format to bridge his street-rooted graphic practice and the fine-art gallery world, producing unique, individually finished works at larger scale. The piece belongs to his ongoing series of women as figures of resistance and dignity, a thread that extends across his catalog from earlier revolutionary-woman prints into later lotus and floral-woman works. Its focus on a Muslim woman gave it particular resonance in the political climate of the period, situating it within his civil-rights and justice concerns.
FAQ
What is an HPM?
HPM stands for hand-painted multiple. Each example combines screen printing with hand-applied paint and collage, so every piece is individually finished and unique. This distinguishes Muslim Woman (HPM) from Fairey's standard editioned screen prints and places it in a higher value tier.
How large is Muslim Woman (HPM)?
The work measures 29 x 42 inches, substantially larger than Fairey's standard 18 x 24 inch screen prints. The large format and hand-finished surface make it a commanding gallery-grade piece rather than a supporting wall print.
Where and when was it created?
Muslim Woman (HPM) was created for Shepard Fairey's White Walls Gallery show on April 1, 2006, and published by Modern Multiples. It was issued at an original price of $2,200, reflecting its status as a unique hand-painted work.
What themes does the work address?
The piece centers a Muslim woman within Fairey's civil-rights and justice themes, with a secondary connection to his pop-culture and collaboration work. It belongs to his ongoing series of women portrayed as figures of resistance and dignity.
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.