Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Unsinkable Consumption”?
Artist Statement
UNSINKABLE CONSUMPTION by Shepard Fairey 18 x 24 inch screen print on cream speckle tone paper. Signed and numbered edition of 450. $45
Summary
Unsinkable Consumption is a 2015 Shepard Fairey screen print, published by Obey Giant on September 9, 2015. It measures 18 x 24 inches, printed on cream speckle tone paper, and was issued as a signed and numbered first edition of 450. The title and imagery lean into Fairey's recurring critique of relentless consumer culture, pairing commercial visual language with a pointed message about the costs of unchecked consumption. Issued at $45, it sits among Fairey's mid-decade screen prints exploring consumerism and pop-culture iconography in his signature high-contrast, propaganda-style graphic vocabulary.
Why It Matters
Unsinkable Consumption belongs to a cluster of mid-2010s Obey Giant screen prints in which Fairey turned his propaganda toolkit against consumer culture itself. Where his earlier work appropriated authoritarian and advertising imagery to provoke, prints like this one sharpen the target: the title plays on the rhetoric of unstoppable, ever-rising consumption, framing it as something carried forward despite its costs. For collectors, the work matters as a clear, affordable example of Fairey's consumerism-critique strain, a theme that recurs across companion releases from the same period. At an accessible $45 issue price and a moderate edition of 450, it was designed to circulate widely rather than function as a scarce trophy, which fits Fairey's populist, message-first ethos. The print rewards viewers who read it alongside its siblings, where the same visual grammar reappears across variations on power, water, and destruction. As a hand-signed and numbered screen print on speckle tone paper, it offers the tactile, editioned qualities serious collectors look for while remaining approachable for newer buyers building a thematically coherent Fairey grouping.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors who focus on Fairey's social-critique work and want an affordable, hand-signed screen print rather than a high-ticket large-format piece. At a $45 issue price and an edition of 450, it suits newer collectors and those assembling a themed wall around consumerism and pop-culture critique. The 18 x 24 inch format is easy to frame and display in a series alongside companion prints from the same period, reinforcing a coherent narrative when hung as a group. Its cream speckle tone paper and signed-and-numbered status give it the editioned credibility collectors value, while the moderate edition size keeps it within reach. It fits naturally into a consumerism or pop-culture-focused Fairey collection.
Historical Context
Unsinkable Consumption dates to 2015, a period when Fairey was producing a steady stream of Obey Giant screen prints sharpening his critique of consumer capitalism and corporate power. By this point his propaganda-derived visual language was fully mature, and he increasingly aimed it at consumption, branding, and the systems that drive them rather than at single political figures. The print sits among same-year companions exploring related themes of destruction, water, and power, marking a phase in which Fairey organized his output into thematically linked release waves. It reflects his ongoing strategy of issuing accessible, editioned screen prints that spread a message broadly while sustaining his independent Obey Giant publishing operation.
FAQ
What is the edition size of Unsinkable Consumption?
It is a signed and numbered first edition of 450, published by Obey Giant in 2015. Each print is hand-signed by Shepard Fairey and numbered within the edition, placing it among his moderately sized mid-decade screen print releases.
What are the dimensions and materials?
The print measures 18 x 24 inches and is a screen print on cream speckle tone paper. The speckle tone stock is a recurring choice in Fairey's Obey Giant screen prints from this period and gives the surface a distinctive warm, textured ground.
When was it released and at what price?
Unsinkable Consumption was released on September 9, 2015, published by Obey Giant at an issue price of $45. That accessible price point reflects Fairey's strategy of circulating message-driven prints widely rather than restricting them to high-end buyers.
What is the print about?
The title and imagery engage Fairey's recurring critique of consumer culture, framing relentless consumption as something carried forward despite its costs. It belongs to a 2015 cluster of Obey Giant prints exploring consumerism and pop-culture iconography.
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.