Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Earth Crisis (Large Format)”?
Artist Statement
According to co-curator of "Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent," Pedro Alonzo: In November 2015, Shepard unveiled his latest public art installation "Earth Crisis," a giant sphere suspended between the first and second floor of the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Designed in honor of COP21 – the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference, the massive sphere was inscribed with a mandala-inspired design decorated with floral motifs and a silhouette of the iconic Parisian landmark. The original design that inspired the Parisian installation can be seen in the print here, which was created in 2014 to benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council to aid in their efforts to influence legislation to protect the environment. Shepard re-designed the original black and white design, adopting a blue motif to heighten the teardrop element and alluding to the importance of sustainability in clean air and water. This emblem serves as the central shield depicted within the larger Paris installation. Earth Crisis. Serigraph on 100% Cotton Custom Archival Paper with hand-deckled edges. 30 x 41 inches. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 89. Comes with a certificate of authenticity. $900.
Summary
Earth Crisis (Large Format) is a 2019 screen print published by Obey Giant, issued as a numbered edition of 89 at 30 x 41 inches on 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges. The black-edition image presents a mandala-inspired design built from floral motifs and a teardrop element evoking clean air and water, with a silhouette of the Eiffel Tower at its center. It is the emblem that anchored Fairey's larger Paris installation. The serigraph is signed by Shepard Fairey and comes with a certificate of authenticity, offered at $900. The composition reads as a decorative yet pointed environmental symbol.
Why It Matters
Earth Crisis sits at the intersection of Fairey's decorative mandala vocabulary and his environmental advocacy, making it one of the clearer examples of how he embeds an activist message inside a beautiful, symmetrical image. The print reproduces the central shield design that anchored his suspended-sphere installation at the Eiffel Tower, tying a collectible paper edition directly to a major public artwork. The teardrop motif and floral framing translate sustainability themes (clean air and water) into an immediately legible emblem rather than a slogan. The large-format treatment at 30 x 41 inches on hand-deckled cotton archival paper, in a small numbered edition of 89, positions it as a premium object within Fairey's environmental output. For collectors, it connects to his broader climate-themed body of work and to the COP21 moment the design honored. The combination of a tightly limited edition, a signature, an included certificate of authenticity, and a documented link to a landmark installation gives the piece both decorative appeal and a strong narrative hook. It demonstrates Fairey's stated strategy of using ornamental beauty to draw viewers toward serious issues.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors who want a Fairey work that is decorative and display-friendly while still carrying activist meaning. The mandala-and-floral composition reads well as a centerpiece and pairs naturally with his other environmental and lotus-themed pieces. At 30 x 41 inches it makes a statement on a wall, and the small numbered edition of 89, signed and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, suits buyers who value scarcity and documentation. Environmental and climate-focused collectors are a natural audience given the design's origins as a benefit image and its tie to the Eiffel Tower installation. It fits well in a thematic environmental grouping or alongside his Paris-related works, offering both aesthetic balance and a clear conversation-starting backstory.
Historical Context
Earth Crisis belongs to Fairey's environmental work and to the large-format archival series Obey Giant issued in 2019. The underlying design traces to an image created to benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council and was later adapted for the suspended-sphere installation unveiled at the Eiffel Tower in honor of the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP21). This 2019 large-format edition revisits that emblem on premium cotton archival paper, reflecting Fairey's practice of reissuing key designs in collectible formats tied to exhibitions such as "Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent." Within his arc, it marks a mature phase where mandala-based ornamentation and explicit climate advocacy are fully integrated, building on his long-running interest in symbolic, decorative imagery deployed for public messaging.
FAQ
What is the edition size of Earth Crisis (Large Format)?
This black large-format edition was issued as a numbered edition of 89. It is a screen print (serigraph) on 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges, signed by Shepard Fairey and accompanied by a certificate of authenticity, published by Obey Giant in 2019.
How is this print connected to the Eiffel Tower?
The image reproduces the central shield design that inspired Fairey's public art installation at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, a giant sphere honoring COP21, the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference. The print presents the emblem that anchored that larger installation.
What does the design represent?
It is a mandala-inspired composition with floral motifs and a teardrop element, with the Parisian landmark silhouetted at center. The design alludes to sustainability and the importance of clean air and water, and the original version was created to benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council.
What are the dimensions and price?
The large-format print measures 30 x 41 inches and was offered at $900. It is a serigraph on hand-deckled 100% cotton archival paper, signed and numbered, in an edition of 89.
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.