Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Earth Guardians (Large Format)”?
Artist Statement
"Earth Guardians" Large Format on 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges featuring young leader Xiuhtezcatl Martinez. 31 x 40 inches. 6 color screen print on cream. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 75. Obey publishing chop in lower left corner. Comes with Certificate of Authenticity (COA)
Summary
Earth Guardians (Large Format) is a 2018 six-color screen print by Shepard Fairey, published by the Amplifier Foundation in a signed, numbered edition of 75. Measuring 31 x 40 inches, it is printed on 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges on a cream sheet and carries the Obey publishing chop in the lower left corner. It portrays young leader Xiuhtezcatl Martinez and comes with a Certificate of Authenticity. The large-scale portrait applies Fairey's bold graphic style to an environmental youth activist, extending the We The Future project into an exhibition-scale format.
Why It Matters
Earth Guardians is the large-format, exhibition-scale counterpart to Fairey's We The Future portraits, focusing on environmental youth leader Xiuhtezcatl Martinez. Where the smaller set introduced three young activists, this 31 x 40 inch print elevates a single subject to wall-anchoring scale, signaling the importance Fairey places on environmental advocacy and the next generation of organizers. Its production values reinforce that intent: six-color screen printing on 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges, the Obey publishing chop, and an included Certificate of Authenticity mark it as a premium release. The tight edition of 75 makes it considerably scarcer than the standard-size prints, heightening its collector significance. Published by the Amplifier Foundation, it carries the same advocacy provenance that distinguishes Fairey's mission-driven work from his purely commercial editions. Thematically it aligns with the record's environmental and power framings, using portraiture to confer cultural weight on a climate activist. For collectors, the combination of large scale, archival materials, COA, low edition number, and recognized advocacy partner makes it one of the more substantial entries in Fairey's late-2010s activist portraiture.
Collector Perspective
This print targets collectors who want a statement-scale Fairey portrait tied to environmental activism and the Amplifier Foundation. At 31 x 40 inches on hand-deckled archival cotton paper, with the Obey chop and a Certificate of Authenticity, it reads as a premium, gallery-grade piece suited to a primary display wall. The edition of 75 is notably small, which appeals to scarcity-minded buyers and those building a focused collection of Fairey's large-format works. It pairs naturally with the companion large-format prints of the other young leaders from the same release, making it attractive to collectors assembling the full set or organizing by theme around environmental and youth-activist subjects.
Historical Context
Earth Guardians sits within Fairey's late-2010s collaboration with the Amplifier Foundation and his We The Future initiative spotlighting young leaders. Issued in 2018, the large-format edition extends the smaller portrait set into exhibition scale, with Xiuhtezcatl Martinez representing the environmental wing of that activist roster. The premium construction, six-color archival cotton printing, hand-deckled edges, Obey chop, and COA, reflects how Fairey reserved his most elaborate production for the large-format versions of his mission-driven portraits. The piece belongs to a tight cluster of 2018 large-format Amplifier releases portraying individual young activists, and it underscores Fairey's continued use of portraiture to advance environmental and social causes during a period when his advocacy collaborations ran parallel to his commercial print program.
FAQ
Who is featured in Earth Guardians?
The large-format print features young leader Xiuhtezcatl Martinez, an environmental activist. It is part of Fairey's We The Future project portraying emerging organizers in his graphic portrait style.
What is the edition size?
It is a signed, numbered edition of 75, six-color screen printed on cream paper. This is a notably small run compared with the standard-size We The Future prints.
What materials and authentication are included?
The print uses 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges and carries the Obey publishing chop in the lower left corner. The source states it comes with a Certificate of Authenticity (COA).
How large is it and who published it?
It measures 31 x 40 inches and was published by the Amplifier Foundation, the advocacy art organization Fairey collaborated with on the We The Future series.
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.