Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Vote!”?
Artist Statement
24 x 36 inch Offset Print Signed Edition of 350. Release Date: 01/24/2008
Summary
Vote! is a 2008 signed offset lithograph, 24 x 36 inches, in a first edition of 350 published by Obey Giant, released January 24, 2008. The single-word title functions as a direct civic call to participate in the electoral process. The source provides medium, dimensions, edition size, and release date but no further description of the imagery, identifying its themes as collaboration/pop culture and politics/democracy. As a large-format offset print, it was produced as an accessible, message-driven edition centered on the act of voting during a U.S. presidential election year.
Why It Matters
Vote! arrives in 2008, the same year Fairey became internationally known for his Obama HOPE image, and it captures his deep engagement with American electoral politics during that landmark campaign cycle. The print distills political activism to a single imperative word, exemplifying Fairey's gift for compressing a message into a graphic, immediately legible statement. Issued as a large 24 x 36 inch offset lithograph in a first edition of 350, it was positioned as an accessible piece encouraging civic participation rather than endorsing a specific candidate on its face. Within his catalog it belongs to the democracy-and-voting strand that recurs across his career, often timed to election seasons. For collectors, it is significant as a dated artifact of the 2008 election moment, a period when Fairey's political art reached its widest audience. The combination of large format, signed first edition, and a universally resonant civic message gives the print both display presence and clear thematic placement within his body of politically motivated work.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors focused on Fairey's political and civic-engagement work, especially those who collect pieces tied to the 2008 election era. Its single-word message and large 24 x 36 inch format give it strong wall presence and make it a natural statement piece for collectors who want to foreground the democracy-and-voting theme. As a signed first edition of 350, it fits well in a politically themed Fairey grouping or a chronological set anchored to the 2008 campaign year. The offset lithograph medium and accessible original positioning make it an approachable entry into his activist output.
Historical Context
Released in January 2008, Vote! coincides with the U.S. presidential election year in which Fairey produced his career-defining Obama imagery. The print sits squarely in his democracy-and-voting theme, which he revisited across multiple election cycles, and its timing places it at the front edge of the campaign season. As an offset lithograph rather than a screen print, it reflects his use of more reproducible methods for broadly distributed, message-forward editions. It belongs to the same 2008 wave of politically and culturally engaged releases that surrounded his breakthrough year, underscoring how central electoral participation was to his work during this period.
FAQ
What are the edition details?
Vote! is a signed offset lithograph measuring 24 x 36 inches, published by Obey Giant in a first edition of 350. It was released on January 24, 2008.
What medium is this print?
Unlike many of Fairey's screen prints, Vote! is an offset lithograph, a more reproducible method he used for broadly distributed, message-forward editions.
What is the message of the print?
The single-word title Vote! is a direct civic call to participate in the electoral process. The source identifies its themes as politics and democracy alongside collaboration and pop culture.
Why is the 2008 timing notable?
It was released during the 2008 U.S. presidential election year, the same year Fairey created his widely known Obama imagery, placing it at the center of his most politically visible period.
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.