Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Half Face Wall (First Edition)”?
Artist Statement
HALF FACE Screen Print 18 x 24 inches Edition of 150
Summary
Half Face Wall is a 2000 Shepard Fairey screen print, published by Obey Giant in a first edition of 150, measuring 18 x 24 inches. Titled "Half Face," it engages Fairey's Obey face iconography, presenting a partial-face composition in his bold, high-contrast graphic style. As a run of 150 impressions, it sits among the smaller editions of the period. The work belongs to Fairey's early Obey Giant studio output and relates to his broader exploration of face-based imagery descended from the Andre the Giant icon.
Why It Matters
Half Face Wall engages the face-based iconography at the core of Shepard Fairey's Obey Giant project, the visual identity descended from his Andre the Giant image. Dated 2000 and published in a first edition of 150, the print belongs to the formative studio period when Fairey was exploring variations on his central motif. The half-face composition reflects a deliberate play on his signature imagery—cropping and reframing the icon that anchors his entire practice—which gives the work conceptual interest beyond pure decoration. For a knowledge-graph audience, its value is both documentary and relational: it links closely to a companion Double Face work of the same year and connects to earlier and later face-set pieces, helping map how Fairey experimented with his core icon over time. With an edition of 150, it is a relatively small run, adding scarcity for collectors tracking the chronology of his output. The print rewards collectors who value the development of Fairey's signature face imagery and his early studio practice, representing the experimental, identity-defining side of his work before his mainstream political breakthrough. As an early node in the face-iconography lineage, it documents a foundational element of the Obey visual language.
Collector Perspective
Half Face Wall appeals to early Obey Giant completists and collectors drawn to Fairey's face iconography. The edition of 150 is small, and the 18 x 24-inch format frames easily, grouping naturally with companion face-themed prints such as Double Face. Its bold, high-contrast partial-face composition reads strongly on a wall and carries clear ties to the Obey project's core identity. The print suits a collector building a thematic set around Fairey's face motif or a chronological survey of his early studio practice, where the development of his signature imagery and edition scale matter more than celebrity or campaign subjects.
Historical Context
Half Face Wall belongs to Shepard Fairey's early Obey Giant studio period around 2000, when his street-rooted practice was becoming editioned studio work. Its partial-face composition engages the face iconography descended from the Andre the Giant image that anchors the Obey project. This was several years before his 2008 Obama breakthrough, during a phase focused on refining and reworking his core visual identity. The print sits among the 2000 Obey Giant releases and, alongside companion face works of the year, documents how Fairey experimented with cropping and reframing his central icon—a foundational element of the visual language he would carry across his career.
FAQ
What does Half Face Wall depict?
Titled "Half Face," the print presents a partial-face composition tied to Fairey's Obey face iconography, the visual identity descended from his Andre the Giant image. It reflects his early experimentation with cropping and reframing his core icon.
When was it made and how large is the edition?
Half Face Wall is dated 2000, published by Obey Giant, in a first edition of 150 impressions according to the source. That is a relatively small run for the period.
What are the dimensions and medium?
It is a screen print measuring 18 x 24 inches, per the source description, a frame-friendly format common across Fairey's editioned prints of the era.
How does it relate to other works?
It connects closely to the companion 2000 Double Face print and to earlier and later face-set works, mapping Fairey's ongoing exploration of his central face motif.
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.