Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Chinese Soldier”?
Artist Statement
CHINESE SOLDIER Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 100
Summary
Chinese Soldier is a 1997 screen print by Shepard Fairey, published by Obey Giant in a First Edition of 100, measuring 18 x 24 inches on paper. The record classifies it under collaborations/pop culture and lists no secondary theme. As a 1997 Obey Giant edition, it belongs to Fairey's early studio output, in which he drew on military and propaganda-style imagery rendered in a bold graphic mode. Source detail is limited to title, medium, dimensions, and edition size, so the description stays close to those facts.
Why It Matters
Chinese Soldier sits within Fairey's 1997 run of Obey Giant screen prints, a period defined by his appropriation of military and revolutionary imagery to interrogate the visual mechanics of propaganda. The soldier subject aligns with that recurring strategy: borrowing the heroic, state-poster aesthetic and recontextualizing it through the OBEY lens. With an edition of only 100, it is a limited early work, and its scarcity stems from the print run rather than from its age. For collectors mapping Fairey's early iconography, the soldier and political-figure prints of 1997 and 1998 form a coherent thread that culminates in his later, more overtly political output. Because the source is sparse, interpretation of the specific image should remain measured; the firmly grounded facts are the 1997 date, the screen-print medium, the 18 x 24 format, and the edition of 100. The print's value is best framed as part of this early propaganda-inspired cohort, with appeal driven by its small edition size and its fit within a chronological account of how Fairey developed his political visual language.
Collector Perspective
Chinese Soldier suits collectors drawn to Fairey's early appropriation of military and propaganda imagery and those completing the 1997 Obey Giant editions. With an edition of 100 it is a relatively scarce early piece, and it pairs naturally with the soldier, political-figure, and propaganda prints of the same period. The 18 x 24 format frames and groups well in a wall of late-1990s OBEY work. Because the source gives little visual description, the date and small edition are the dependable points to emphasize. It fits a chronological collection focused on the propaganda-inspired roots of Fairey's later political prints.
Historical Context
Published by Obey Giant in 1997 in an edition of 100, Chinese Soldier belongs to Fairey's early studio-edition era, when he was generating a series of screen prints that appropriated military and revolutionary imagery in a bold, propaganda-influenced graphic style. It sits in the same 1997-1998 cluster as the Che, Stalin, Tank, and Cop prints in its related set, a body of work that rehearsed the political-poster vocabulary Fairey would later deploy at larger scale. As a small-edition early piece, it documents the formative period in which his propaganda-inspired approach took shape rather than any single later milestone.
FAQ
What is Chinese Soldier?
Chinese Soldier is a 1997 screen print by Shepard Fairey, published by Obey Giant. It measures 18 x 24 inches on paper and was issued in a First Edition of 100, appropriating military imagery in Fairey's propaganda-influenced graphic style.
How large is the edition?
The record lists a First Edition of 100. That small run makes it a comparatively limited early Obey Giant print from 1997.
What are its dimensions and medium?
It is a screen print on paper measuring 18 inches wide by 24 inches high, published by Obey Giant in 1997.
Where does it fit in Fairey's work?
It belongs to a 1997-1998 cluster of Obey Giant prints appropriating military and revolutionary figures, a propaganda-inspired body of work that anticipated Fairey's later, more overtly political output.
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.