Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Toxicity Inspector”?
Artist Statement
TOXICITY INSPECTOR Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 350
Summary
Toxicity Inspector is a 2007 Shepard Fairey screen print published by Obey Giant in a first edition of 350, measuring 18 x 24 inches and released June 26, 2007 at $35. The work carries forward the OBEY visual program with bold graphic illustration and the brand's signature stylized imagery. As an affordable, mid-sized screen print from Fairey's prolific mid-2000s output, it sits squarely within his recurring vocabulary of authority, propaganda-style framing, and corporate iconography rendered in flat, poster-ready color.
Why It Matters
Toxicity Inspector belongs to Fairey's mid-2000s run of mid-sized OBEY screen prints, the period when his studio output became both prolific and broadly collectible. Its modest first-edition size of 350 and low original $35 release price made works like this accessible entry points for collectors, which is part of why this era underpins so much of Fairey's secondary market today. The title and imagery extend his long-running interrogation of authority, control, and corporate-industrial power, themes he returns to repeatedly in adjacent 2006-2007 releases. For a Gauntlet Gallery collector, the value is less about a single dramatic statement and more about how this print documents the consistency of Fairey's graphic language during a defining stretch of his career. It pairs naturally with other Obey Giant prints of the same window, forming a coherent set that shows how he iterates on a fixed visual grammar across many small editions. As a standardized 18 x 24 inch screen print, it is also easy to frame, display, and integrate into a larger Fairey grouping, making it a practical as well as thematically relevant acquisition.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors building breadth in Fairey's mid-2000s OBEY screen prints rather than chasing a single marquee image. The standard 18 x 24 inch format and first edition of 350 make it approachable, framable, and easy to hang alongside companion prints from 2006-2007. Buyers drawn to Fairey's graphic-design sensibility and his recurring authority and corporate-power motifs will find it a clean fit. It works especially well as part of a multi-print wall grouping with related Obey Giant releases of the same period, where the shared palette and poster logic reinforce each other. For newer collectors, an edition of this size offers a recognizable, on-brand Fairey at the more accessible end of his catalog.
Historical Context
Toxicity Inspector dates to 2007, deep into Fairey's Posters and Propaganda era when Obey Giant was issuing a steady stream of mid-sized screen prints in editions of a few hundred. This was the stretch just before the 2008 Obama HOPE breakthrough that would vastly expand his audience, so prints like this represent the mature studio practice that preceded that surge. The work sits among numerous 2006-2007 Obey Giant releases that share its format, edition scale, and graphic vocabulary, reflecting how Fairey systematized his output during these years. Its themes of inspection, authority, and corporate-industrial power echo the propaganda-inspired framing he had been refining since the early OBEY sticker and poster campaigns, now delivered as collectible fine-art screen prints.
FAQ
What is the edition size of Toxicity Inspector?
Toxicity Inspector is a first edition of 350 screen prints published by Obey Giant in 2007. This was a typical mid-sized edition for Fairey's screen prints of that period, making it relatively accessible while still a limited fine-art release.
What are the dimensions of this print?
The print measures 18 x 24 inches, a standard format Fairey used across many of his 2006-2007 Obey Giant screen prints. The consistent size makes it easy to frame and to display alongside other prints from the same era.
When was Toxicity Inspector released and at what price?
It was released on June 26, 2007 at an original price of $35. That low release price was common for Fairey's mid-sized screen prints in this period and helped make his work accessible to a broad collector base.
What medium is this work?
Toxicity Inspector is a screen print, the technique Fairey relied on most heavily for his OBEY editions. Screen printing supports the flat, bold, poster-style color and graphic clarity that define his signature look.
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.