What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Peace And Justice Ornament (Red)”?

Artist Statement

"Obey Peace And Justice Ornament" Red and Black are an edition of 300 each, 18"x24", signed and numbered by the artist.

Summary

Peace And Justice Ornament (Red) is a 2012 print by Shepard Fairey, published by Obey Giant and released January 31, 2012. The Red and Black versions are each an edition of 300, measuring 18 x 24 inches, signed and numbered by the artist, originally $45. The design is an ornamental, decorative-motif treatment of Fairey's peace-and-justice iconography. Source detail is concise, covering the colorways, edition sizes, dimensions, and signature. The work pairs Fairey's ornamental pattern style with his recurring civil-rights-and-justice theme in a compact, framable format.

Why It Matters

Peace And Justice Ornament distills Fairey's enduring peace-and-justice messaging into a decorative, ornament-style graphic, showing how he translates explicit political themes into the ornamental, mandala-like patterning that recurs throughout his work. Issued in matched Red and Black colorways of 300 each, it offers collectors a paired set within a single concept, a format Fairey often uses to encourage acquisition of multiple variants. The title itself foregrounds the civil-rights-and-justice theme that anchors much of his catalog, even as the treatment leans toward pattern and symbol rather than portraiture or photojournalism. For collectors, the appeal lies in the clean, symmetrical design and the way it functions as both a statement of values and a decorative object. Because the source description is brief and does not elaborate on specific imagery beyond the ornament concept and colorways, interpretive claims should remain measured. Still, the print is a clear example of Fairey's strategy of embedding activist language inside accessible, design-forward editions, keeping his peace-and-justice message in circulation at a modest price and small edition size. It reads as a companion to his other justice-themed releases of the early 2010s.

Collector Perspective

This print appeals to collectors who favor Fairey's ornamental, pattern-driven designs and his peace-and-justice messaging in a decorative form. The matched Red and Black colorways, each an edition of 300, invite set collecting for those who like to pair variants. At an original $45, it is among the more accessible entries in a justice-themed Fairey grouping. The symmetrical 18 x 24 inch ornament format frames cleanly and works well in a balanced display or beside other peace-and-justice prints. Buyers tend to value the colorway pairing, the signed and numbered status, and the design's decorative versatility alongside its activist title.

Historical Context

Released in early 2012, Peace And Justice Ornament continues Fairey's long-running peace-and-justice iconography, a thematic thread that spans much of his Obey Giant output. The ornament treatment reflects his recurring use of decorative, symmetrical patterning to package political ideas in design-forward editions. Offered in paired Red and Black colorways of 300 each, it follows his common practice of releasing matched variants. Within his arc, it belongs to the steady stream of justice-themed editions he produced in the early 2010s, sitting alongside his more pointed activist prints while leaning toward the decorative end of his range. The brief source limits deeper contextual claims, but the title and theme firmly place it in his civil-rights-and-justice catalog.

FAQ

Related Works

Peace & Justice Summit2018 · Shares the explicit peace-and-justice theme and titling in a later release.

Tyranny Has A Witness2011 · Adjacent 2011 civil-rights-and-justice print from the same period.

Wind Chases The Sun2011 · Same-grouping civil-rights-and-justice edition from the prior year.

Peace Woman2008 · Earlier peace-themed print sharing the justice iconography.

Eye Alert Red2010 · Justice-themed colorway print in the same civil-rights grouping.

Rise Above Barbwire Flower (Red)2022 · Later justice-themed print offered in paired colorways like this ornament set.