Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Corporate Violence For Sale”?
Artist Statement
18 x 24? Screen Print signed and numbered edition of 450 on off-white paper (not the usual Speckletone). $55. A portion of the proceeds go to a campaign finance reform organization. Release Date: 6/14/2011
Summary
Corporate Violence For Sale is a 2011 Shepard Fairey screen print, 18 x 24 inches, signed and numbered in a first edition of 450, printed on off-white paper rather than Fairey's usual Speckletone. Published by Obey Giant and released June 14, 2011 at $55, the work carries a pointed critique of corporate influence and money in politics. The source notes that a portion of proceeds went to a campaign finance reform organization, tying the image directly to political-reform advocacy. The title itself frames corporate power as a commodity, aligning the piece with Fairey's recurring themes of consumerism, power, and institutional critique.
Why It Matters
Corporate Violence For Sale is part of a focused 2011 sequence of Fairey prints attacking money's corrupting role in American politics and the commodification of political influence. Its companion title, Legislative Influence For Sale, signals a deliberate series confronting campaign finance and corporate power. What distinguishes this release is the documented tie to a campaign finance reform organization, which received a portion of proceeds, making the print an instrument of the very cause it depicts. The choice of off-white paper instead of the usual Speckletone is a noted production detail that collectors of Fairey's screen prints track closely. The work exemplifies Fairey's propaganda-inspired strategy: borrowing the visual authority of commercial and state imagery to indict the systems that produce it. As a signed and numbered edition of 450 at an accessible original price, it brought a sharp political message into wide circulation. For collectors, it anchors the corporate-critique and campaign-finance thread that runs through Fairey's early-2010s catalog and pairs naturally with its sibling reform-themed releases from the same window.
Collector Perspective
This piece suits collectors focused on Fairey's political and corporate-critique work, particularly the campaign-finance-reform thread from 2011. It pairs directly with Legislative Influence For Sale as part of a thematic set, making it attractive to those building a focused sub-collection around money-in-politics imagery. The signed and numbered edition of 450 and the unusual off-white paper give it both accessibility and a production detail worth noting. At 18 x 24 inches it displays cleanly and reads well in groupings of Fairey's propaganda-styled political prints. Buyers who value cause-driven provenance will appreciate the documented donation to a campaign finance reform organization tied to the release.
Historical Context
Corporate Violence For Sale comes from Fairey's productive 2010-2012 stretch, when he produced numerous propaganda-styled prints targeting corporate and political power. It belongs to a small cluster of 2011 releases explicitly about campaign finance and corporate influence, released within days of related work. The piece reflects a period of heightened public attention to money in politics and aligns Fairey's street-rooted aesthetic with the campaign-finance-reform movement. The off-white paper stock, noted as a departure from his usual Speckletone, marks a small but documented production variation within his screen-print output of the era. It reinforces the institutional-critique strand that has long run through his catalog alongside his music and street-art work.
FAQ
How large is the edition?
Corporate Violence For Sale is a signed and numbered first edition of 450 screen prints, published by Obey Giant and released on June 14, 2011 at an original price of $55. It is a mid-sized run within Fairey's political print catalog.
What paper is it printed on?
The source notes it was printed on off-white paper rather than Fairey's usual Speckletone stock. This is a documented production detail that distinguishes it from many of his other screen prints from the same period.
What cause does the print support?
According to the release description, a portion of the proceeds went to a campaign finance reform organization. The title and image critique corporate influence and the commodification of political power, aligning the artwork with the reform cause it benefited.
What size is the print?
The work measures 18 x 24 inches and is a screen print. It was published by Obey Giant as part of Fairey's 2011 releases addressing corporate power and money in politics.
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.