Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Greetings From Iraq (Large Format)”?
Artist Statement
Appropriation is the common currency of artistic practice. Every new work of art builds upon the creative juices of predecessors. In "Greetings from Iraq," Fairey draws from a humble postcard from Yellowstone National Park that features one of the park's main attractions, the Old Faithful geyser. The artist inserts oil derricks, the desired natural resource, and arguably the true cause of the war, as well as camels in the background. The exploding stream of boiling water and vapor convert into an explosion in this piece. Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense during the second Gulf War in the mid-2000s, promoted the strategy of "shock and awe." This tactic consisted of dropping heavy bomb loads across the country to demonstrate overwhelming power and formidable force to demoralize and defeat the Iraqi army. Ironically, the explosive power of the shock and awe military tactic has a similar appeal to the spectacular force of Old Faithful, the natural wonder. – Description written by co-curator Pedro Alonzo. "Enjoy a cheap holiday on other people's misery," found at the bottom of the image, is a lyric from the 1977 song "Holiday in the Sun" by the Sex Pistols. Fairey, a fan of punk rock and the DIY culture, commonly inserts references to one of his favorite musical genres. The phrase refers to sending soldiers to foreign lands and the suffering of the local inhabitants. The lyrics recall the Vietnam War era anti-war slogan, "Join the army, travel the world, meet interesting people and kill them." Greetings From Iraq. 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. Comes with a certificate of authenticity. $900.
Summary
Greetings From Iraq is a 2019 large-format screen print by Shepard Fairey, published by Obey Giant in a signed, numbered edition of 89, measuring 30 x 41 inches on Coventry Rag 100% cotton archival paper with hand-deckled edges. Appropriating a vintage Yellowstone postcard of the Old Faithful geyser, Fairey replaces the natural scene with oil derricks, camels, and an eruption rendered as an explosion, linking the war's true cause to oil and the "shock and awe" military tactic. A Sex Pistols lyric, "Enjoy a cheap holiday on other people's misery," anchors the image's anti-war and punk-referencing message.
Why It Matters
Greetings From Iraq layers appropriation, music reference, and political critique into a single dense image, making it one of Fairey's richer anti-war statements. Per co-curator Pedro Alonzo, Fairey reworks a humble Yellowstone postcard, converting Old Faithful's geyser into an explosion and inserting oil derricks and camels to name oil as arguably the true cause of the war. The piece draws an ironic equivalence between the spectacle of a natural wonder and the "shock and awe" bombing strategy promoted by Donald Rumsfeld during the second Gulf War. The embedded Sex Pistols lyric from "Holiday in the Sun" ties the work to Fairey's punk and DIY roots, a recurring source of his imagery, and recalls Vietnam-era anti-war sentiment about sending soldiers to inflict suffering abroad. This convergence of postcard nostalgia, counterculture music, and pointed geopolitical critique exemplifies how Fairey fuses pop reference with dissent. As a signed, numbered large-format edition of 89 on hand-deckled cotton rag, it offers fine-print presentation and relative scarcity, appealing to collectors of both his anti-war work and his music-referencing pieces.
Collector Perspective
Greetings From Iraq appeals to collectors of Fairey's anti-war work and to those who prize his music and counterculture references, here the embedded Sex Pistols lyric and punk lineage. The appropriated-postcard concept and dense symbolism make it a conversation-driving statement piece, well suited to collectors who value layered imagery. At 30 x 41 inches on hand-deckled cotton rag, it presents as a substantial fine print. The numbered edition of 89 places it among his more limited large-format releases. It fits collections organized around anti-war themes, punk and music references, or the "Facing the Giant" survey, and pairs naturally with other 2019 large-format and music-related prints.
Historical Context
Greetings From Iraq sits within Fairey's body of anti-war work tied to the second Gulf War, drawing, per co-curator Pedro Alonzo, on a Yellowstone postcard to indict oil as the conflict's underlying cause and to satirize Donald Rumsfeld's "shock and awe" strategy of the mid-2000s. The embedded Sex Pistols lyric reflects Fairey's longstanding engagement with punk rock and DIY culture, a recurring source of imagery throughout his career. Its 2019 release as a signed, numbered large-format screen print of 89 reflects his later practice of presenting such work at scale on premium archival paper, extending his appropriation-driven, counterculture-inflected approach to political commentary.
FAQ
What imagery did Fairey appropriate for this print?
Per co-curator Pedro Alonzo, Fairey draws from a Yellowstone National Park postcard of the Old Faithful geyser, inserting oil derricks and camels and converting the geyser's eruption into an explosion to point to oil as arguably the true cause of the war.
What does the Sex Pistols lyric mean?
The phrase "Enjoy a cheap holiday on other people's misery" is from the 1977 Sex Pistols song "Holiday in the Sun." Fairey, a punk and DIY fan, uses it to reference sending soldiers abroad and the suffering of local inhabitants.
What are the edition details?
Greetings From Iraq is a numbered edition of 89, signed by Shepard Fairey and published by Obey Giant in 2019, with a certificate of authenticity. The large-format print measures 30 x 41 inches.
What materials is the print made of?
It is a serigraph on Coventry Rag, 100% cotton custom archival paper with hand-deckled edges, measuring 30 x 41 inches. The original large-format release price was $900.
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.