Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Providence Industrial (Red)”?
Artist Statement
I went to RISD and lived in Providence for 8 years. The Obey Giant campaign started there. I was recently invited to do a mural and print based on my Providence experience. The mural and print contain all Providence landmarks that were part of my life while I lived there. Some remain glorious while others have fallen into disrepair but found second lives in other ways. Providence was a center for the textile industry and the red striped tower is the former location of a huge textile factory called Atlantic Mills. The mill closed, but now the warehouse rents spaces to artists and bands. That is where my printing studio and skateboard ramp used to be. The train bridge is now abandoned but for years the bridge itself and the tunnel leading to it were graffiti spots and hangouts for artists, musicians and other miscreants. I actually put that icon face poster on the bridge years ago. You can see the train bridge from the 195 on the way to Seekonk. The Biltmore and the Industrial Trust buildind that looks like something from Gotham are architectural landmarks I like. The image is both celebrating Providence industry and Providence’s industriousness in the wake of declining industry. Duality, and finding a door to open resulting from another closing, are themes I address in my art that relate to Providence. -Shepard Shepard Fairey Providence Silkscreen Red Colorway Ed. 400 $75.00 18? x 24? Screen Print, Numbered & Signed by Shepard Fairey; Red Colorway Edition: 400 + Artist Proofs
Summary
Providence Industrial is a 2010 screen print by Shepard Fairey, published in association with AS220 at 18 x 24 inches and priced at $75, released August 13, 2010. Per the source, the Red colorway edition is 400 plus artist proofs, numbered and signed. Fairey's statement explains the image, based on a related mural, gathers Providence landmarks from his eight years living there while attending RISD, where the Obey Giant campaign began. Depicted sites include the Atlantic Mills textile tower, an abandoned train bridge he once postered, the Biltmore, and the Industrial Trust building, celebrating the city's industrial past and resilience.
Why It Matters
Providence Industrial is an unusually autobiographical Fairey print, mapping the specific city where the Obey Giant campaign originated and where he spent eight years as a RISD student. That documented personal history gives the work biographical significance beyond its imagery, making it a meaningful piece for collectors interested in the origins of his career. The statement identifies real landmarks, the red-striped Atlantic Mills textile tower that housed his printing studio and skateboard ramp, the abandoned train bridge where he placed an icon-face poster, the Biltmore, and the Gotham-like Industrial Trust building, anchoring the image in verifiable places tied to his early life. Fairey frames the work around themes of duality and renewal, celebrating both Providence industry and its industriousness amid declining industry, with closed mills finding second lives as artist spaces. Produced in association with AS220, a Providence arts organization, the print carries a community and public-art dimension. Issued at $75 in a Red edition of 400 plus artist proofs, it was a collectible release with clear OBEY iconography lineage. For collectors and researchers, the documented birthplace-of-OBEY narrative and named landmarks are the strongest differentiators.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors drawn to the origin story of the Obey Giant campaign and to Fairey's RISD-era Providence history, as well as to those who value works tied to specific places and the OBEY icon. The autobiographical detail and the AS220 community connection give it appeal to buyers who prioritize narrative and provenance of subject. At 18 x 24 inches it displays as a layered cityscape and pairs with Fairey's OBEY-iconography and music-counterculture prints. The Red edition of 400 plus artist proofs means availability is reasonable, so collectors typically weigh colorway, condition, and the documented Providence significance over rarity. It fits well in a collection emphasizing the roots and evolution of the OBEY project.
Historical Context
Providence Industrial directly references the geographic origin of Fairey's career: he attended RISD and lived in Providence for eight years, and the source states the Obey Giant campaign started there. The print, drawn from a commissioned mural, documents landmarks central to his formative years, including the Atlantic Mills warehouse that held his printing studio and the train bridge where he placed an early icon-face poster. Produced with AS220, a Providence arts organization, it situates the work within local community and public-art contexts. Within his broader arc, the piece functions as a reflective return to roots, framed around his recurring themes of duality and finding opportunity in decline, and it carries forward the OBEY iconography flagged as its primary theme.
FAQ
Why is Providence significant to this print?
Per Fairey's statement, he attended RISD and lived in Providence for eight years, and the Obey Giant campaign started there. The print gathers Providence landmarks from his time living in the city, making it directly tied to the origins of his career and the OBEY project.
What landmarks appear in the image?
Fairey describes the red-striped tower of the former Atlantic Mills textile factory, where his printing studio and skateboard ramp once were, an abandoned train bridge he had postered, the Biltmore, and the Industrial Trust building he likens to something from Gotham.
What were the edition details?
The source lists the Red colorway as a numbered and signed edition of 400 plus artist proofs, measuring 18 x 24 inches, priced at $75, released August 13, 2010, and published in association with AS220, a Providence arts organization.
What themes does Fairey connect to the work?
Fairey describes themes of duality and finding a door to open when another closes, celebrating both Providence's industry and its industriousness in the wake of declining industry, as old mills find second lives housing artists and bands.
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.