Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Iggy And The Stooges 2013”?
Artist Statement
I can’t ever do enough for Iggy and the Stooges, so I jumped at the opportunity to do the poster for their upcoming headlining gig in San Jose at the C2SV Festival Sept. 28. If you have never seen The Stooges live, they are phenomenal, and you should pick up a ticket RIGHT NOW! The Coup, Off!, and a bunch of other great bands are playing too. The Stooges poster is an edition of 450 and comes out Sept. 26 on obeygiant.com where 250 will be available. with the other 200 available on site at the C2SV Festival. My friend Robert Matheu shot the portrait of James Williamson and Jennifer Anderson took the Iggy photo. -Shepard
Summary
Iggy And The Stooges 2013 is an 18 x 24 inch screen print published by Obey Giant in a numbered edition of 450. Fairey created it as the poster for the band's headlining set at the C2SV Festival in San Jose on September 28, 2013. The imagery draws on photographs supplied by collaborators: Robert Matheu shot the portrait of guitarist James Williamson, and Jennifer Anderson took the Iggy Pop photo. Of the 450-print edition, 250 were made available online via obeygiant.com beginning September 26, 2013, with the remaining 200 sold on site at the C2SV Festival.
Why It Matters
This poster is a direct expression of Fairey's devotion to one of punk and proto-punk's most influential acts, Iggy and the Stooges. Created to mark their C2SV Festival headlining gig, it functions both as a working gig poster and a collectible screen print, sitting squarely within his music portraiture practice. Fairey's note that he can never do enough for the band underscores the personal stakes behind the commission. The work is quietly collaborative in a way collectors value: it builds on photographs by Robert Matheu and Jennifer Anderson, crediting the photographers whose images anchor the portraits of James Williamson and Iggy Pop. The split distribution, with 250 prints online and 200 at the festival, ties the edition to a specific live event and gives the festival-sold portion an on-site, in-the-moment provenance. For a music-focused Fairey collection, it is a strong representative of his concert-poster lineage and his ongoing tributes to the artists who shaped his sensibility, even though the source record does not list an original release price.
Collector Perspective
This print draws Iggy Pop and Stooges fans, punk and proto-punk music collectors, and Fairey buyers who favor his gig-poster output. Its event-tied origin as the C2SV Festival headlining poster gives it a clear story, and the festival-sold portion carries appeal for collectors who value on-site provenance. Visually it reads as a bold music portrait suited to a music room or studio wall, and the photographer credits to Robert Matheu and Jennifer Anderson add documentary interest. At an edition of 450 it was relatively accessible, making it a solid mid-tier piece rather than a rarity, and it fits naturally into a music-series or concert-poster grouping alongside Fairey's other band portraits.
Historical Context
Iggy And The Stooges 2013 belongs to Fairey's steady stream of concert and festival posters, a lineage rooted in his punk fandom and his practice of illustrating from photographs by scene photographers. Tied to the band's C2SV Festival appearance in San Jose, it documents his continued homage to the proto-punk act whose influence he repeatedly cites. The credited use of Robert Matheu's and Jennifer Anderson's photographs reflects his characteristic method of building portraits on existing documentary imagery. Released amid a dense 2013 run of music and OBEY-iconography prints, it extends a thread of artist tributes that runs across his catalog and connects to his broader engagement with music subjects and band-poster commissions.
FAQ
What was this poster made for?
Fairey created it as the poster for Iggy and the Stooges' headlining gig at the C2SV Festival in San Jose on September 28, 2013. He describes jumping at the opportunity, noting he can never do enough for the band.
How was the edition distributed?
The edition totaled 450 prints. Of those, 250 were made available online via obeygiant.com starting September 26, 2013, while the remaining 200 were sold on site at the C2SV Festival.
Whose photographs did Fairey use?
The portrait of guitarist James Williamson was shot by Robert Matheu, and the photo of Iggy Pop was taken by Jennifer Anderson. Fairey illustrated the poster based on their photographs, a method he often uses for music portraits.
What are the print's specifications?
It is an 18 x 24 inch screen print published by Obey Giant in a numbered edition of 450, dated 2013. The source record does not list an original release price for this print.
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.