Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Commanda (Large Format)”?
Artist Statement
"Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent" co-curator Pedro Alonzo has this to say about Commanda: This print is a fictionalized portrait of Shepard Fairey's wife, Amanda. The title, which is a hybrid of her name and the word, "command," acts as a verbal description of her confident and powerful character. Although a familiar subject, the artist renders her partially veiled and diverts her attention away from the viewer. Holding a spray can in one hand and cloaking her face with the other, she is mysterious, but her intentions are clear. Shown as an anonymous female purveyor of the street art practice favored by Fairey, as a mixed-race protagonist/antagonist she helps to upend traditional tropes of female portraiture. Instead, Fairey presents her as a universal model of women in his eyes, who are fierce, independent, and proactive. Commanda. Serigraph on Coventry Rag, 100% Cotton Custom Archival Paper with hand-deckled edges. 30 x 41 inches. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 89. $900. Comes with certificate of authenticity.
Summary
Commanda (Large Format) is a 2019 screen print published by Obey Giant as a numbered first edition of 89, measuring 30 x 41 inches on Coventry Rag 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges, signed and with a certificate of authenticity, offered at $900. It is a fictionalized portrait of Fairey's wife, Amanda, with a title fusing her name and the word "command" to evoke her confident character. She is shown partially veiled, holding a spray can in one hand while cloaking her face with the other, gaze diverted from the viewer. Presented as an anonymous female street artist, the figure works to upend traditional tropes of female portraiture.
Why It Matters
Commanda is a personal and conceptual work that fuses Fairey's domestic life with his street-art identity and his ongoing project of reimagining how women are portrayed. The figure is a fictionalized portrait of his wife, Amanda, with the invented title blending her name and "command" to signal a confident, powerful character. By depicting her partially veiled, gaze averted, holding a spray can, Fairey casts her as an anonymous female purveyor of his own street-art practice, deliberately upending traditional, passive tropes of female portraiture. As a mixed-race protagonist she becomes, in his framing, a universal model of women who are fierce, independent, and proactive. The work also engages his OBEY iconography through its mysterious, masked presence and confrontational presence. As a small numbered edition of 89 on premium Coventry Rag archival paper, it is a collectible large-format serigraph with a strong autobiographical narrative. It connects to Fairey's broader series of empowered-women portraits while standing apart for its intimacy, making it a meaningful piece for collectors interested in the more personal dimensions of his practice and in his deliberate rewriting of gendered portraiture conventions.
Collector Perspective
Commanda appeals to collectors who value the personal and conceptual side of Fairey's work and his series of empowered-women portraits. The autobiographical subject, his wife reimagined as an anonymous street artist, gives the print a distinctive narrative hook, while the spray-can imagery ties it directly to his street-art roots. At 30 x 41 inches in an edition of 89, signed with a certificate of authenticity, it suits buyers seeking scarce, large-format statement portraits rather than poster editions. It groups naturally with his other 2019 large-format portraits and with his women-and-leadership works, offering both visual mystery and thematic depth. Collectors drawn to the intersection of OBEY iconography and portraiture will find it a strong anchor for a thematic grouping.
Historical Context
Commanda belongs to the 2019 large-format archival serigraphs accompanied by commentary from "Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent" co-curator Pedro Alonzo. It sits within Fairey's long-running effort to portray powerful, defiant women, here turned inward to a fictionalized image of his wife. The spray-can motif and veiled, anonymous presentation connect the portrait to his street-art origins and to his OBEY iconography of mysterious, commanding figures. By framing a mixed-race protagonist as a universal model of independent womanhood, the work continues his deliberate challenge to historical portrayals of women as passive or submissive, a theme he developed further after becoming a father, and reflects the mature, personal phase of his portraiture.
FAQ
Who is the subject of Commanda?
It is a fictionalized portrait of Shepard Fairey's wife, Amanda. The title is a hybrid of her name and the word command, describing her confident and powerful character. She is shown partially veiled, holding a spray can while cloaking her face, presented as an anonymous female street artist.
What does the imagery mean?
By diverting her gaze and cloaking her face, Fairey renders her mysterious yet purposeful. As a mixed-race protagonist holding a spray can, she upends traditional tropes of female portraiture and serves, in Fairey's words, as a universal model of women who are fierce, independent, and proactive.
What is the edition size and format?
Commanda (Large Format) is a numbered first edition of 89, a serigraph on Coventry Rag 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges, measuring 30 x 41 inches. It is signed by Shepard Fairey, comes with a certificate of authenticity, and was offered at $900.
How does this fit Fairey's portraits of women?
It continues his practice of depicting powerful, defiant women, a theme he developed in part as a reflection of his wife's strong character and as a counter to historical images of women as passive or submissive. Here that effort turns personal and autobiographical.
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.