Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Compton's Most Wanted”?
Artist Statement
18 x 24 inch screen print. Signed by Michael Miller (photographer) and Shepard Fairey. Edition of 750. $70 Release Date: December 13, 2012
Summary
Compton's Most Wanted is a 2012 screen print by Shepard Fairey, released December 13, 2012 through Obey Giant. Measuring 18 by 24 inches in an edition of 750, it was signed by both photographer Michael Miller and Shepard Fairey and sold for $70. The print is a collaboration built on Michael Miller's photography, reworked through Fairey's graphic style. With its dual signatures and photographic foundation, it sits within Fairey's collaborative, pop-culture-oriented output and reflects his frequent practice of partnering with photographers to transform documentary imagery into signed editions.
Why It Matters
Compton's Most Wanted is notable as a photographer collaboration, pairing Shepard Fairey with Michael Miller and carrying both their signatures. This dual-signature structure is a recurring and significant feature of Fairey's practice, where he builds graphic prints atop existing photographs and credits the source photographer directly. The result is a hybrid object valued by collectors of both fine-art printmaking and photography. With an edition of 750 at $70, it was an accessible release, yet the collaboration and signatures give it weight beyond its modest original price. For collectors, the photographic base and the named photographer are the key differentiators, situating the work within Fairey's broader pattern of cross-disciplinary collaboration. For a database, the load-bearing facts are the Michael Miller collaboration, the dual signatures, the edition of 750, the 18 by 24 inch dimensions, and the $70 release price. These details position Compton's Most Wanted as a representative example of how Fairey transforms documentary photography into collectible graphic art, and they explain its appeal to buyers who follow his collaborative releases and the people he chooses to credit alongside himself.
Collector Perspective
This print attracts collectors interested in Fairey's photographer collaborations and the way he reworks documentary images into bold graphic editions. The dual signatures from Fairey and Michael Miller broaden its appeal across art and photography audiences and make it more desirable than a single-signature release. At 18 by 24 inches it is an accessible, frame-friendly format, and the original $70 price with an edition of 750 kept it within reach of newer collectors. It fits naturally in a collection focused on Fairey's collaborations and photographic-base works, and complements his other 2012 prints built on partnerships with musicians and photographers.
Historical Context
Compton's Most Wanted comes from Fairey's busy late-2012 output, released December 13, 2012, a stretch defined by frequent collaborations across music and photography. By crediting and co-signing with photographer Michael Miller, the print reflects Fairey's established method of building graphic works on photographic foundations and acknowledging his collaborators. This practice ties into a long-running thread in his career, from his early appropriation of found imagery to his mature studio collaborations. Within his arc, the print exemplifies the collaborative, cross-disciplinary phase in which Obey Giant served as a platform for turning partnered imagery into signed, limited editions for his collector base.
FAQ
Who signed Compton's Most Wanted?
The print is signed by both photographer Michael Miller and Shepard Fairey, making it a dual-signature collaboration. Miller's photography served as the foundation for Fairey's graphic interpretation.
How large is it and how many were made?
Compton's Most Wanted is an 18 by 24 inch screen print released in an edition of 750. It sold for $70 at release on December 13, 2012, through Obey Giant.
What is the collaboration based on?
The work is built on photography by Michael Miller, which Fairey reworked into his signature graphic style. Crediting and co-signing with the photographer reflects Fairey's frequent practice of partnering on photographic-base prints.
What medium is the print?
It is a screen print published by Obey Giant. Its 18 by 24 inch size, accessible original price, and dual signatures made it appealing to both art and photography collectors at the time of release.
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.