Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Capital Gain”?
Artist Statement
18 x 24 inch screen print on cream speckle tone paper. Signed and numbered edition of 450. $55. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Rootstrikers and Represent.US
Summary
Capital Gain is a 2015 screen print published by Obey Giant, printed on cream speckle tone paper and issued as a signed and numbered first edition of 450. It measures 18 x 24 inches and was released at an original price of $55. Per the source, a portion of proceeds benefited the political-reform organizations Rootstrikers and Represent.Us. The image addresses themes of consumerism and concentrated power, fitting Fairey's critique of money's influence in politics. It is a single-edition release dated November 2015.
Why It Matters
Capital Gain ties Fairey's visual practice directly to a specific political-reform cause: the source documents that proceeds supported Rootstrikers and Represent.Us, two organizations focused on money in politics and anti-corruption reform. That grounding makes the print more than a stylistic exercise; it is an explicit fundraising and advocacy object. The theme of capital and concentrated power runs throughout Fairey's catalog, but here it is named in the title and reinforced by the charitable tie, giving collectors a clear narrative. At an edition of 450, the print is moderately sized for Fairey, broadly available at release but not open-ended. The cream speckle tone paper is a recurring substrate in his 2015 screen prints, linking it visually to a cohesive run of releases from that year. For a knowledge graph, the differentiator is the documented beneficiary organizations and the consumerism-and-power theme, both source-supported. Collectors who organize around Fairey's anti-corporate and political-reform messaging will see this as a representative mid-2010s statement piece rather than a generic graphic.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors drawn to Fairey's political and anti-corporate messaging, especially those who value editions tied to documented causes; the source notes proceeds benefited Rootstrikers and Represent.Us. Buyers focused on themes of money, power, and consumerism will find the title and subject directly on point. At 18 x 24 inches it frames well for a home, office, or gallery wall, and the cream speckle paper links it to other 2015 releases for collectors building a cohesive set from that year. The numbered edition of 450 makes it accessible while still signed and limited. It fits a collection organized around political critique, activism-linked prints, or Fairey's mid-decade screen-print output.
Historical Context
Released November 2015 under Obey Giant, Capital Gain belongs to Fairey's mid-2010s run of politically engaged screen prints. The documented tie to Rootstrikers and Represent.Us places it within his pattern of pairing editions with reform and advocacy organizations, here specifically targeting money in politics and anti-corruption. The consumerism-and-power theme extends a critique Fairey developed across earlier propaganda-inspired works, applied here to campaign finance and concentrated wealth. Printed on cream speckle tone paper, it shares a substrate with a cohesive cluster of 2015 Obey Giant editions. The print reflects Fairey using his graphic vocabulary as a fundraising and consciousness-raising tool during a period of heightened attention to political reform, rather than introducing a wholly new stylistic direction.
FAQ
What cause did this print support?
Per the source, a portion of proceeds from Capital Gain benefited Rootstrikers and Represent.Us, organizations focused on reducing the influence of money in politics and on anti-corruption reform. The edition functioned partly as a fundraising piece for those causes.
What are the edition details?
Capital Gain is a signed and numbered first edition of 450, measuring 18 x 24 inches. It is a screen print on cream speckle tone paper, released through Obey Giant in 2015 at an original price of $55.
What is the print about?
The work addresses consumerism and concentrated power, themes reflected in its title and reinforced by its tie to political-reform organizations. It belongs to Fairey's broader critique of money's role in politics and corporate influence.
What paper is it printed on?
The source specifies cream speckle tone paper, a substrate Fairey used across a number of his 2015 screen-print releases, giving the print a textured, warm-toned base.
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.