Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Authoritarian (First Edition)”?
Artist Statement
Authoritarian 18” x 24” Screen Print Edition of: 140
Summary
Authoritarian is a 2000 Shepard Fairey screen print measuring 18 x 24 inches, published by Obey Giant in a first edition of 140. The work uses Fairey's signature propaganda-poster vocabulary, deploying bold authoritarian imagery and graphic command language drawn from his OBEY Giant project. As an early, small-run screen print it reflects the artist's ongoing interrogation of obedience, control, and the visual machinery of power. The title itself signals the piece's confrontation with authority, presented in the stark, high-contrast poster style that defines Fairey's turn-of-the-millennium output.
Why It Matters
Authoritarian sits squarely within Shepard Fairey's central artistic project: appropriating the aesthetics of authoritarian propaganda to provoke critical awareness rather than blind obedience. By naming the work plainly and rendering it in his command-poster style, Fairey turns the language of control back on itself, inviting viewers to question who and what they obey. As a 2000 release in an edition of just 140, it belongs to the formative period when Fairey was consolidating the OBEY Giant brand into a recognized fine-art and street practice. Works from this window are valued by collectors precisely because they document the artist building his visual grammar before his later mainstream breakthrough. The small edition size and early date give the print historical weight within his catalog. It also connects thematically to a long line of Fairey works that critique power, surveillance, and institutional authority, making it a meaningful anchor piece for collectors tracing how his anti-authoritarian message developed across two decades. Its directness, both in title and image, makes it one of the clearer statements of intent from this era of his output.
Collector Perspective
This print appeals to collectors focused on Shepard Fairey's early Obey Giant period and his propaganda-critique works. The small edition of 140 and 2000 date make it attractive to those building a chronological or thematic collection around Fairey's anti-authority statements. At a compact 18 x 24 inches, it displays well in a series grouping alongside other early screen prints rather than as a standalone statement wall. Buyers drawn to the political and propaganda dimension of Fairey's catalog, as opposed to his music or floral work, will find it a focused fit. Its modest original price point and early-career provenance make it a credible entry for collectors prioritizing historical sequence over scale.
Historical Context
Authoritarian dates to 2000, a pivotal moment when Shepard Fairey was developing the Obey Giant project from sticker and street campaign into a structured body of editioned screen prints. This era, following his late-1980s Andre the Giant sticker work, saw him refining the propaganda-poster language that would define his career. The work's small edition of 140 is characteristic of these early, hand-pulled runs published by Obey Giant before his editions and audience expanded dramatically later in the decade. Thematically it fits the strand of Fairey's practice most directly engaged with obedience, control, and the critique of authority, themes he would revisit repeatedly in subsequent years. It belongs to the foundational chapter of his catalog that collectors prize for documenting his methods and message in their early form.
FAQ
What is Authoritarian by Shepard Fairey?
Authoritarian is a 2000 screen print by Shepard Fairey, published by Obey Giant. It measures 18 x 24 inches and was released as a first edition of 140. The work uses Fairey's propaganda-poster style to engage with themes of authority and control.
How large is the edition?
Authoritarian was published in a first edition of 140 by Obey Giant. This small run is typical of Fairey's early screen prints from this period, before his editions grew larger later in the decade.
What are the dimensions and medium?
The print is a screen print measuring 18 x 24 inches. It was produced and published by Obey Giant in 2000 as part of Shepard Fairey's early editioned output.
How does it fit Fairey's broader work?
The piece sits within Fairey's long-running critique of obedience and authority, the central idea behind his OBEY Giant project. Its plain title and command-poster style make it one of the more direct statements of that theme from his early 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.