Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Sticker Kit Print”?
Artist Statement
Dave and Holly Combs are wonderful people as well as the founders of PEEL Zine. They took the risk of following their artistic passion and have paid the price of losing their home. I created this print with and for them to raise money to help with their huge debt. PEEL has helped to support and grow the street art community and I believe they deserve to have the favor returned. Profits from this print go to help the Combs family. Please help out. -Shepard The Sticker Kit Print will so on sale 10/6 at a Random Time, Limit 1. Edition of 450, 18×24, S/N, $50
Summary
Sticker Kit Print is a 2009 Obey Giant signed and numbered screen print, released October 6, 2009 in an edition of 450 at 18 x 24 inches, with a limit of one. Fairey created it with and for Dave and Holly Combs, founders of PEEL Zine, to raise money to help with debt after they lost their home. Profits from the print went to support the Combs family. Fairey cited PEEL's role in supporting and growing the street-art community as his reason for returning the favor. The image draws on sticker and street-art culture in his graphic style.
Why It Matters
Sticker Kit Print documents Fairey's solidarity with the street-art community that shaped his own practice. Made with and for Dave and Holly Combs, founders of PEEL Zine, the print was a direct fundraiser to help the family after they lost their home, with profits going to support them. Fairey's statement frames it as returning a favor to people who helped support and grow the street-art community, making the work a public act of mutual aid within that scene. For collectors, the print is meaningful as a marker of Fairey's roots in sticker and zine culture and his willingness to use his market reach to support fellow artists in crisis. Its theme of consumerism and power, paired with sticker-culture imagery, ties it to the DIY ethos from which Fairey emerged, distinguishing it from his more polished commercial commissions of the same period. As a signed and numbered edition of 450 at the accessible 18 x 24 size with a one-per-person limit, it was structured to spread support broadly. The combination of community solidarity, street-art lineage, and a concrete charitable purpose gives it lasting narrative value.
Collector Perspective
Sticker Kit Print resonates with collectors invested in street-art history, sticker and zine culture, and the community-aid side of Fairey's work, as well as those who appreciate prints with a documented backstory. Its connection to PEEL Zine and the Combs family gives it a narrative that DIY and street-art enthusiasts particularly value. At 18 x 24 with an edition of 450, it is an accessible, frame-friendly size that fits well into a broad Fairey collection or a street-art-focused display. Buyers who already own his OBEY-iconography or consumerism-themed prints can treat it as a thematically connected piece that also carries a meaningful community-support story, adding depth beyond pure aesthetics.
Historical Context
Released through Obey Giant on October 6, 2009, Sticker Kit Print extends Fairey's pattern of issuing editions to support people and causes close to him. It was made to aid Dave and Holly Combs, founders of PEEL Zine, after they lost their home, with profits going to the family. PEEL's documented role in supporting and growing the street-art community connects the print to the sticker-and-zine culture from which Fairey's own OBEY sticker practice emerged. Within his arc, the work sits in the prolific late-2000s period when he frequently attached signed-and-numbered releases to philanthropic goals, here specifically directed at fellow street artists. It reflects Fairey's continued identification with grassroots street-art networks even as his broader profile rose.
FAQ
Why did Fairey make the Sticker Kit Print?
He created it with and for Dave and Holly Combs, founders of PEEL Zine, to raise money to help with their debt after they lost their home. Profits from the print went to support the Combs family, returning a favor for PEEL's support of the street-art community.
What are the edition details?
It is a signed and numbered screen print in an edition of 450, measuring 18 x 24 inches, published by Obey Giant in 2009. It went on sale October 6, 2009 with a limit of one, at an original price of $50.
What is PEEL Zine's connection to the print?
PEEL Zine, founded by the Combs family, helped support and grow the street-art community. Fairey made this print to help them after they lost their home, framing it as returning the favor for their contributions to the scene.
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.