Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Enhanced Disintegration (Red)”?
Artist Statement
"Enhanced Disintegration" is a painting and print I created for my 30th year in street art based on a decayed and (mostly) defaced sicker of the Obey "Icon Face," one of my most versatile and ubiquitous images. The sticker was on a yellow pole with old cracked paint, which peeled off when portions of the sticker were ripped away. The Icon Face was scratched and written on with a felt-tip marker, yet remains legible. I love the textures of the disintegration and transgression that leaves my image almost scarred into the pole's surface. Bloodied but unbowed and persisting, this image is as good as any to represent the power of tenacity and the beauty of patina. The large original painting can be seen at my "Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent & New Works" show currently at Over The Influence in Los Angeles through December 29. -Shepard Enhanced Disintegration (Red). Screenprint on cream Speckle Tone Paper. 18 x 24 inches. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 350. $45
Summary
Enhanced Disintegration (Red) is a 2019 Shepard Fairey screen print on cream Speckle Tone paper, measuring 18 x 24 inches. Based on a painting Fairey created for his 30th year in street art, the image depicts a decayed and partly defaced OBEY Icon Face sticker, scratched and marked with felt-tip pen yet still legible, rendered with the textures of peeling paint and weathered surface. Fairey describes it as a tribute to tenacity and the beauty of patina, an image bloodied but unbowed. Published by Obey Giant, it was issued as a signed, numbered edition of 350. A pink colorway also exists alongside this red version.
Why It Matters
Enhanced Disintegration distills three decades of the OBEY project into a single weathered image. Fairey created it for his 30th year in street art, basing it on a real decayed and defaced Icon Face sticker found on a yellow pole with cracked paint, scratched and written over with felt-tip marker yet still legible. He frames the work as a meditation on tenacity and the beauty of patina, an image he calls bloodied but unbowed and persisting, which makes it a quietly powerful statement about the endurance of his most ubiquitous symbol. That autobiographical and milestone significance sets it apart from a clean studio rendering of the icon. The large original painting was shown at his "Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent & New Works" exhibition at Over The Influence, anchoring the print to a documented retrospective moment. For collectors, the appeal lies in this fusion of street-art authenticity, the celebration of decay and transgression, and a 30th-anniversary milestone, delivered at an accessible price and a manageable 18 x 24-inch scale. The edition of 350 and an alternate pink colorway add variety for variant collectors.
Collector Perspective
Enhanced Disintegration (Red) appeals to collectors who prize the street-art roots of the OBEY project and works tied to career milestones, here Fairey's 30th year in street art. The weathered, defaced-sticker imagery gives it authenticity and a strong narrative hook, and its connection to the "Facing the Giant" exhibition adds provenance value. At an accessible price and 18 x 24 inches on cream Speckle Tone paper, it is attainable and easy to display. The signed, numbered edition of 350 plus an alternate pink colorway give variant collectors a reason to pursue both versions. It fits naturally within an OBEY-iconography subset and rewards buyers who value patina, decay, and the endurance of Fairey's signature image.
Historical Context
Enhanced Disintegration (Red) was created for Fairey's 30th year in street art, placing it at a deliberate career milestone in 2019. It is based on a painting depicting a decayed, defaced OBEY Icon Face sticker, one of Fairey's most versatile and ubiquitous images, and the large original was exhibited at "Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent & New Works" at Over The Influence in Los Angeles. Within his arc, the work is reflective and self-referential, celebrating the survival of his street-level imagery through weathering and transgression rather than presenting a pristine icon. It ties directly to the lineage of the Andre-derived Icon Face and underscores how Fairey, three decades in, was framing the patina and persistence of his work as a subject in its own right.
FAQ
What is Enhanced Disintegration (Red)?
It is a 2019 Shepard Fairey screen print on cream Speckle Tone paper, measuring 18 x 24 inches, based on a painting of a decayed and defaced OBEY Icon Face sticker. Fairey created it for his 30th year in street art and published it through Obey Giant in a numbered edition of 350.
What is the image based on?
It is based on a real, mostly defaced OBEY Icon Face sticker Fairey found on a yellow pole with cracked paint. The sticker was scratched and marked with felt-tip pen yet remained legible. Fairey describes the work as a tribute to tenacity and the beauty of patina, bloodied but unbowed.
How large is the edition?
Enhanced Disintegration (Red) was issued as a signed, numbered edition of 350, signed by Shepard Fairey. An alternate pink colorway also exists alongside this red version, per the release information.
Where was the original shown?
The large original painting was exhibited at Fairey's "Facing the Giant: Three Decades of Dissent & New Works" show at Over The Influence in Los Angeles, on view through December 29 during the 2019 exhibition period.
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.