Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “The Human Trial”?
Artist Statement
SHEPARD FAIREY LIMITED EDITION SCREENPRINT - $245.00 DONATION World famous graphic print artist Shepard Fairey (OBEY, Obama Hope poster) has generously donated his time and talents to support The Human Trial. Your contribution will enable us to film the action this summer leading up to the clinical trials. Click here to order your poster and support the making of the film. ABOUT THE POSTER • 18 x 24" unframed screen print • Signed / numbered edition of 400 • Donation is tax deductible as provided by law • Shipping included
Summary
The Human Trial is a 2013 signed and numbered Shepard Fairey screen print, 18 x 24 inches, in an edition of 400. The source describes it as a benefit print: Fairey donated his time and talent to support a film called The Human Trial, with the $245 paid as a tax-deductible donation that helped fund filming leading up to clinical trials. Shipping was included. The print uses Fairey's recognizable graphic poster style to raise funds for the documentary project, positioning the artwork as a vehicle for charitable support rather than a standard gallery release.
Why It Matters
The Human Trial stands out in Fairey's catalog as an explicitly charitable release, with the purchase structured as a tax-deductible donation supporting a documentary film about clinical trials. This reflects a recurring dimension of his practice: leveraging his recognizable graphic brand to channel collector demand toward causes and projects he believes in. The source is candid that the value proposition is partly philanthropic, with the proceeds enabling filming. For collectors, that origin gives the print a distinct story compared with his standard editions, tying ownership to a specific real-world fundraising effort. The signed and numbered edition of 400 keeps it within the moderate-scarcity range typical of his benefit prints. While the source does not detail the imagery's politics, the database flags it under themes of politics and civil rights, consistent with Fairey's broader interest in human-focused causes. Its significance lies less in art-historical innovation and more in documenting how Fairey uses limited-edition prints as practical fundraising tools, a model he has applied across many causes throughout his career.
Collector Perspective
This print suits collectors who value the cause-driven side of Fairey's practice and who appreciate prints with a documented charitable origin. Buyers motivated by both art and philanthropy are the natural audience, since the source frames the purchase as a tax-deductible donation to a film project. As a signed and numbered edition of 400, it offers limited-edition status at a mid-range original price. It fits well in a collection organized around Fairey's benefit and activism prints, or for a collector who wants a piece with a story beyond the image itself. Its appeal rests on provenance and intent as much as on aesthetics.
Historical Context
Released in 2013 through a campaign for The Human Trial film, this print exemplifies Fairey's long-running use of limited editions as fundraising instruments. By this stage of his career, he was widely known for the Obama Hope image referenced in the source, and he frequently lent that recognizability to causes via donated prints. The piece belongs to the activism-oriented strand of his mid-career output, where the artwork's purpose is partly to generate support for an external project. Rather than marking a stylistic departure, it documents how Fairey's public profile made his prints effective tools for charitable mobilization during this period.
FAQ
What is The Human Trial print?
It is a 2013 Shepard Fairey screen print, 18 x 24 inches, signed and numbered in an edition of 400. According to the source, Fairey donated his time and talent to support a documentary film called The Human Trial, and the print was offered as part of a fundraising campaign for the film.
How was the purchase structured?
The source describes the $245 price as a tax-deductible donation. Buying the poster contributed to filming the project leading up to clinical trials, with shipping included. It was therefore framed as a charitable contribution that came with a signed, numbered print rather than a standard retail sale.
What are the edition details?
The print is a signed and numbered edition of 400, measuring 18 x 24 inches, described as an unframed screen print. It was released in 2013 in connection with The Human Trial film fundraising effort.
Why is this print notable?
It illustrates how Fairey uses limited-edition prints as fundraising tools. The source references his fame from work like the Obama Hope poster and notes he donated his talents to help fund a documentary, making the print's charitable origin central to its story.
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.