Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Obey With Caution (Letterpress)”?
Artist Statement
My art is usually social and political regardless of who is in the White House, but my concerns and frustrations are amplified by the election of Donald Trump. I joked while Trump was campaigning that his slogan should be "Manifest Density," a parody of "Manifest Destiny," which was an embarrassingly egotistical pronouncement by rich white men that it was God's desire for them to conquer ocean to ocean in the territory that would become the United States. Trump appealed to an uninformed electorate who looked for scapegoats and were driven by most likely one or more of the dark impulses listed on the print. I'm pushing for future where those impulses have no place and defiantly no traction. Let's move forward, not backward. I did two versions of this print (No Future released on Tuesday, December 20) because I couldn't make up my mind which I liked more. Both editions of 300. Obey with Caution. 10 x 13 inches. Letterpress on cream cotton paper with hand-deckled edges. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 300. $65. Obey publishing chop in lower left corner.
Summary
Obey With Caution (Letterpress) is a Shepard Fairey letterpress print, 10 x 13 inches, on cream cotton paper with hand-deckled edges, published by Obey Giant in a numbered edition of 300 and signed by the artist. It carries an Obey publishing chop in the lower left corner. Fairey created it as the second of two versions made at the same time as No Future, because he could not decide which he preferred. The print lists dark human impulses Fairey wants excluded from the future, framed by his post-2016-election statement urging a move forward rather than backward.
Why It Matters
Obey With Caution (Letterpress) is the twin of Fairey's No Future print: by his own account he made two versions simultaneously, in editions of 300 each, because he could not choose between them. That origin gives the pair unusual collector logic, since owning both completes a documented artist decision rather than acquiring two unrelated works. Like its companion, it responds directly to the 2016 U.S. election, listing the 'dark impulses' Fairey argues have no place in the future. The letterpress medium on hand-deckled cream cotton paper, plus the Obey publishing chop in the lower-left corner, gives it craft details and a mark of authenticity that distinguish it from Fairey's screen prints. The contained edition of 300 keeps it collectible without false scarcity. For collectors tracking Fairey's overtly political phase, the print is a representative, text-driven statement object, and its explicit pairing with No Future makes it especially attractive to anyone assembling a complete view of his post-election output. Its value rests less on a singular image than on its documentary role and its status as half of a deliberate two-version set.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors of Fairey's political and typographic work, particularly those who like the tactile letterpress format on cream cotton paper. The Obey publishing chop and hand-deckled edges add authentication and craft appeal that reward close viewing and clean framing. At an edition of 300 and a $65 original release price, it is accessible, and its explicit pairing with No Future encourages collectors to acquire both as a documented two-version set. It anchors a focused grouping of Fairey's post-2016 statement prints and rewards buyers who value message-first, text-driven activist art. Collectors seeking image-led icons or portraits will find it more niche, but for thematic political collectors it is a meaningful companion piece.
Historical Context
Obey With Caution (Letterpress) belongs to the wave of explicitly political work Fairey produced around the 2016 election, when his statement says his concerns were amplified. Made as the companion to No Future, it shows how rapidly and prolifically Fairey responded to the moment, issuing two near-identical statement prints at once. The letterpress process and Obey publishing chop tie it to his small-run, craft-oriented releases rather than mass posters. Within his arc, it marks the shift toward blunt, typographic political messaging that characterized his late-2010s resistance imagery, and it documents a specific creative decision, two versions over one, that links it permanently to its twin.
FAQ
How is Obey With Caution related to No Future?
Fairey made the two as companion versions at the same time because he could not decide which he preferred. Both were issued in editions of 300. No Future released December 20, 2016 and Obey With Caution followed in January 2017, forming a deliberate two-version set.
What are the print's specifications?
It is a 10 x 13 inch letterpress print on cream cotton paper with hand-deckled edges, signed by Shepard Fairey and numbered in an edition of 300. It carries the Obey publishing chop in the lower-left corner and was published by Obey Giant.
What is the print's message?
Per Fairey's statement, it responds to the 2016 election by listing dark human impulses he wants excluded from the future. He frames it as a call to move forward, not backward, satirizing nationalist rhetoric with his 'Manifest Density' parody.
What is the Obey publishing chop?
The source notes an Obey publishing chop in the lower-left corner. It is an embossed mark associated with Obey Giant's letterpress releases, adding a craft detail and a point of authentication to the signed, numbered 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.