Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Revolution”?
Artist Statement
Revolution Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 100
Summary
Revolution is a 1999 Shepard Fairey screen print, published by Obey Giant as a first edition of 100, measuring 18 x 24 inches. It belongs to the late-1990s cohort of small-edition Obey Giant prints in which Fairey worked through a vocabulary of appropriated propaganda and political imagery. The source record supplies the title, year, medium, dimensions, and edition size but no description of the composition, so the specific visual concept is documented chiefly by the title and the work's position in Fairey's 1999 screen-print run. It is a small-format, hand-pulled screen print from the formative period of the Obey project.
Why It Matters
Revolution arrives in 1999, near the end of the foundational stretch of Obey Giant editions that established Shepard Fairey's graphic identity. The title sits squarely within the visual rhetoric Fairey was developing in these years: the appearance of insurgency, mass movement, and political slogan repurposed from twentieth-century propaganda design. For collectors, the 1999 first editions are significant because they cap the earliest layer of the catalogue, produced in editions of 100 well before Fairey's work reached a mass audience. A title like Revolution appears to align with the project's enduring interest in how the language and imagery of political upheaval get absorbed into visual culture. Because the supplied record contains no description of the imagery itself, any reading of its specific message should stay cautious. What can be said with confidence is structural: this is a hand-pulled, small-edition screen print from the cohort that defined Fairey's early studio output, sharing format, scale, and propaganda-derived sensibility with its 1997-1999 peers. That combination of early date and limited edition gives it durable importance for collectors mapping Fairey's development.
Collector Perspective
Revolution suits collectors who prioritize the earliest and scarcest tier of the Obey Giant catalogue over later, more widely available editions. Its appeal rests on chronology and edition size: a 1999 first edition of 100 is a connoisseur's piece rather than a decorative staple. At 18 x 24 inches it frames easily and groups naturally with other late-1990s first editions to build a coherent early-period wall. Buyers assembling a thematic set of Fairey's propaganda-inspired imagery will find it pairs well with companions like Stalin, Che, and Elvis '77 from the same run, reinforcing the political-poster vocabulary that defines this phase of his work.
Historical Context
Revolution dates to 1999, within the run of small-edition Obey Giant screen prints Fairey produced in the late 1990s. This phase followed the 1989 launch of the Andre the Giant sticker campaign and marked the consolidation of that street project into numbered studio editions. The 1999 works close out the earliest layer of the catalogue, predating Fairey's later large-scale political commissions and his broad public breakthrough. An edition of 100 is consistent with his output from these years and reflects the limited circulation of his prints before demand expanded in the following decade. Its propaganda-derived imagery is characteristic of the graphic language he codified during this period.
FAQ
When was Revolution created?
Revolution was made in 1999 and published by Obey Giant. It belongs to the late-1990s run of screen prints in which Fairey built out the propaganda-derived imagery that defines the early Obey catalogue.
What are the size and edition details?
The print measures 18 x 24 inches and was released as a first edition of 100. This small edition places it among the scarcer tiers of Fairey's output relative to his later, larger releases.
What medium was used?
It is a hand-pulled screen print, the technique Fairey used across his early Obey Giant editions, which gives the work its flat, poster-like graphic quality.
Where does it fall in Fairey's career?
1999 sits near the end of the foundational stretch of Obey editions, produced before Fairey's mainstream recognition. These early first editions document the period when his graphic identity was being codified.
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.