Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Tommy Ramone Collage (Red)”?
Artist Statement
Tommy Ramone Collage (Red). 18 inches by 24 inches Screen Print. Numbered edition of 350. Signed by Shepard Fairey. $50. Print based on photograph by Jenny Lens.
Summary
Tommy Ramone Collage (Red) is a 2016 screen print by Shepard Fairey measuring 18 x 24 inches, published by Obey Giant in a numbered edition of 350 at an issue price of $50. The image is based on a photograph by Jenny Lens and depicts Tommy Ramone of the Ramones using Fairey's collage approach. It was released as part of an edition that also includes a Gold variant. The print is signed by Shepard Fairey. Built on a photographic base layered with Fairey's graphic collage elements, it extends his long-running series of musician portraits honoring punk and rock figures.
Why It Matters
Tommy Ramone Collage continues one of Fairey's most enduring threads: portraits of the musicians who shaped punk and counterculture. The Ramones loom large in that lineage, and rendering Tommy Ramone, the band's original drummer, completes a roster Fairey has built up over years that also includes Joey Ramone. The collage method, layering a photographic base with torn-paper textures, decorative borders, and propaganda-style framing, is a signature Fairey technique that turns a documentary rock photo into an iconographic tribute. Crediting Jenny Lens, a key photographer of the 1970s Los Angeles punk scene, roots the work in authentic source material and acknowledges the photographers whose images Fairey reinterprets. As an Obey Giant edition of 350 issued at $50, it was an accessible signed print, the kind of music-themed release that broadens Fairey's collector base beyond fine-art buyers to punk and music fans. Its importance lies in its place within the music-portrait series and its embodiment of the collage style that defines much of Fairey's mid-2010s output.
Collector Perspective
This print draws music fans, particularly Ramones and punk enthusiasts, alongside collectors who pursue Fairey's musician-portrait series. The 18 x 24 inch format is a standard, easy-to-frame size well suited to a gallery wall of music portraits. Collectors who already own the Joey Ramone print are natural buyers, since the two together build toward a Ramones grouping. The collage style, with its layered textures and red palette, makes for a graphically striking display piece. At its original $50 issue price the print was an accessible signed Fairey work, appealing to newer collectors and to those assembling a themed music collection rather than chasing blue-chip rarity. It fits cleanly into a music-series or punk-portrait section of a Fairey collection.
Historical Context
Released in April 2016 through Obey Giant, this print belongs to Fairey's ongoing series of music portraits that reaches back to early-2000s editions of figures like Joey Ramone, Motorhead, and LL Cool J. By honoring Tommy Ramone, who died in 2014 as the last surviving original member of the Ramones, the print functions as part tribute, part continuation of Fairey's punk pantheon. The collage technique and the use of a Jenny Lens photograph tie it to Fairey's practice of collaborating with, and crediting, the documentary photographers of the punk era. It exemplifies how Fairey sustained his music-portrait line well into the 2010s, keeping the visual language of his early collage works alive while issuing them as accessible numbered editions.
FAQ
Who is depicted and whose photograph is it based on?
The print depicts Tommy Ramone of the Ramones. According to the source, it is based on a photograph by Jenny Lens, a photographer associated with the 1970s punk scene. Shepard Fairey reinterprets the photo using his collage style, layering graphic elements over the photographic base.
What is the edition size and size of the print?
The print is a numbered edition of 350 and measures 18 by 24 inches. It is a screen print published by Obey Giant and signed by Shepard Fairey. The original issue price was $50. It was released as part of an edition that also includes a Gold colorway.
Are there different color versions?
Yes. The source lists both Red and Gold editions of the Tommy Ramone Collage. This record covers the Red version. Both were released in 2016 under Obey Giant.
Is the print signed?
Yes, the source states it is signed by Shepard Fairey and is a numbered edition of 350. It is a screen print on paper measuring 18 by 24 inches.
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.