Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Home Invasion (1)”?
Artist Statement
Home Invasion 1 18 x 24 inch screen print. Signed and numbered edition of 300. $45 This image is about privacy and freedom from digital surveillance. If you didn’t notice, there is a camera aperture in the gun barrel. I think the right to privacy is paramount to the concept of freedom. Fear tactics have always been used to erode freedoms and increase the power and reach of government. Abuse of power is far more likely to happen if structures are in place that make abuse easier. The Patriot Act and the NSA surveillance program are examples of overreach under the guise of “protecting” us from terrorists, but they leave far too much room for potential abuse. Pervasive surveillance, even if intended for law enforcement, gathers data that is far too easy to abuse for a personal or political agenda. I respect due process and I think our government should too. Civil liberties are hard to recover once they are surrendered. The Worldwide Wave of Action opposes the NSA spying and many other areas of injustice and inequality. Check it out here. -Shepard
Summary
Home Invasion (1) is a 2014 Shepard Fairey screen print, 18 x 24 inches, signed and numbered in an edition of 300 and published by Obey Giant, released February 18, 2014, at 45 dollars. The image addresses privacy and freedom from digital surveillance, incorporating a camera aperture hidden in a gun barrel. In his accompanying text, Fairey argues that the right to privacy is paramount to freedom and criticizes the Patriot Act and NSA surveillance program as overreach that erodes civil liberties. He ties the work to the Worldwide Wave of Action opposing NSA spying and other injustice.
Why It Matters
Home Invasion (1) is one of Fairey's most direct statements on surveillance and civil liberties, made at the height of public debate following the NSA revelations. The image's central device, a camera aperture concealed in a gun barrel, is a sharp visual metaphor equating pervasive surveillance with violence and threat, exemplifying Fairey's gift for compressing a political argument into a single graphic. His accompanying text is unusually explicit, naming the Patriot Act and NSA program as overreach that erodes freedom and warning that civil liberties are hard to recover once surrendered. By linking the print to the Worldwide Wave of Action, Fairey situates it within organized activist movements rather than abstract commentary. For collectors, the work is a clear marker of how Fairey's poster-propaganda practice responded to the surveillance-state anxieties of the mid-2010s, sitting alongside his civil-rights and justice imagery. Its edition of 300 keeps it modestly limited, and its timely, issue-driven subject gives it documentary value as a snapshot of post-Snowden political art. It rewards collectors drawn to Fairey's most pointed activist messaging.
Collector Perspective
This print suits collectors focused on Fairey's political and civil-liberties work, particularly those interested in surveillance, privacy, and post-Snowden activism. The hidden-camera-in-gun-barrel device gives it strong conceptual appeal and conversation value on display. At 18 x 24 inches with an edition of 300, it is limited enough to feel collectible while remaining accessible. It fits naturally into a collection organized around Fairey's justice and democracy themes and pairs well with his other rights-focused prints. Collectors who value timely, issue-driven art will appreciate its grounding in a specific moment of debate over the Patriot Act and NSA surveillance.
Historical Context
Released in February 2014 by Obey Giant, Home Invasion (1) reflects the surveillance and civil-liberties debates that intensified in the years following revelations about NSA programs. It belongs to Fairey's politically engaged poster-propaganda practice, where he addresses contemporary issues through bold graphic metaphor. By referencing the Patriot Act, NSA spying, and the Worldwide Wave of Action, the print anchors itself to specific policy concerns and activist organizing of its moment. Within Fairey's arc it extends his long-standing themes of authority, freedom, and resistance into the digital-surveillance era, demonstrating his continued use of editioned prints as vehicles for direct political argument.
FAQ
What is Home Invasion about?
Per Fairey's text, the image is about privacy and freedom from digital surveillance. It includes a camera aperture in the gun barrel and argues that the right to privacy is paramount to freedom, criticizing the Patriot Act and NSA surveillance as overreach.
What is the hidden detail in the image?
Fairey notes there is a camera aperture in the gun barrel, a visual device linking surveillance to threat and violence as a metaphor for pervasive digital monitoring.
What are the edition details?
It is an 18 x 24 inch screen print, signed and numbered in an edition of 300, published by Obey Giant and released February 18, 2014, at an original price of 45 dollars.
Is the print tied to any movement?
Fairey connects it to the Worldwide Wave of Action, which he says opposes NSA spying and many other areas of injustice and inequality, grounding the print in organized activism.
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.