Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Lemmy Damaged Case”?
Artist Statement
I was first intrigued to check out Motörhead because the guys from G.B.H. were in a few photos wearing Motörhead t-shirts with the band's great "snaggletooth" logo. "Ace of Spades" is the first Motörhead song I heard, and I didn't know how to categorize it – punk, metal, hard rock?…but I knew it sounded AWESOME! The lyric "you know I was born to lose, and gamblin's for fools, but that's the way I like it baby… I don't wanna live forever!" Is an outlaw manifesto. There are tons of other great Motörhead albums and songs… "Overkill," "Bomber," 'No Class," "Too Late Too Late," "Damage Case," and "Emergency," but the band always played "Ace of Spades" as their encore. I saw Motörhead several times over the years, and they ALWAYS crushed it and were the loudest band I've ever seen! The band recorded and toured for 40 years, and I can't think of a more consistent and reliable musical institution than Motörhead. Motörhead's founder, singer, bassist, and songwriter, Lemmy Kilmister, is himself as iconic as Motörhead's "snaggletooth" logo. Lemmy stayed true to the hard-rocking, hard-living lifestyle with a handlebar mustache, cowboy boots, denim, and leather as his perpetual battle uniform to the bitter end. Even though Lemmy looked 50 when he was 30, he never seemed to age a day after that. It was a shock when Lemmy unexpectedly died of cancer… I was convinced that hard rock as a devout religion had made Lemmy immortal! Lemmy may be gone, but the songs and the iconic Motörhead logo live on. Check it out! –Shepard Lemmy Damaged Case. 18 x 24 inches. Screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper. (c) 2021 Motorhead and Original photograph (c) Tony Mottram. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 550. $65.
Summary
Lemmy Damaged Case is a 2021 screen print by Shepard Fairey honoring Lemmy Kilmister, founder, singer and bassist of Motorhead. Published by Obey Giant, it is an 18 x 24 inch screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper, based on an original photograph by Tony Mottram and signed by Fairey in a numbered edition of 550. In Fairey's accompanying text he recounts discovering Motorhead through the band's snaggletooth logo and the song Ace of Spades, praises Lemmy as an iconic embodiment of the hard-rock lifestyle, and frames the print as a tribute following Lemmy's death from cancer. The image is a portrait celebrating Lemmy's enduring counterculture legacy.
Why It Matters
This print is a clear example of Fairey's music-tribute portraiture, a strand of his work that honors figures who shaped punk, metal and rock counterculture. Fairey's personal essay grounds the piece, tracing his path into Motorhead through the band's logo and Ace of Spades and casting Lemmy as a constant, uncompromising presence across four decades of touring. That memorial framing, made after Lemmy's death, gives the portrait emotional weight beyond a simple likeness. As a database entry it documents how Fairey channels his own fandom into editioned tributes, building visual legacies for musicians the way he does for political and cultural figures. The collaboration with photographer Tony Mottram also reflects Fairey's standard practice of basing portraits on credited source photography. The edition of 550 keeps it accessible, and the piece slots into a larger body of music portraits spanning reggae, punk and hip-hop. For collectors, it matters as both a Lemmy memorial object and a representative node in Fairey's ongoing music-tribute series.
Collector Perspective
This appeals strongly to music collectors, particularly fans of Motorhead, Lemmy and hard rock, as well as collectors who pursue Fairey's broader catalog of musician tributes. The bold portrait reads well framed in music rooms, studios and bars, where its counterculture subject and iconic status carry weight. At a release price of $65 in an edition of 550, it is one of the more accessible signed Fairey prints, making it a practical entry point for crossover fans coming from music rather than fine art. It fits collections built around music portraits and pairs naturally with his other tribute prints, such as the Lee Scratch Perry and Bob Marley releases listed among its related works.
Historical Context
Lemmy Damaged Case sits within Fairey's contemporary period of music-tribute portraiture, a recurring category alongside his political and environmental output. Released in 2021 through Obey Giant following Lemmy's death from cancer, it functions as a memorial, extending Fairey's long practice of building visual legacies for counterculture figures. Fairey's own text situates the work in his decades-long engagement with punk and metal, recalling how the Motorhead logo and Ace of Spades drew him in. Based on a credited Tony Mottram photograph, it follows his standard method of adapting source photography into signed editions. Within his arc, the print reflects how the artist who emerged from skate and punk subcultures in the late 1980s continued to pay homage to the musicians who shaped that world.
FAQ
Who is depicted in this print?
The print depicts Lemmy Kilmister, the founder, singer, bassist and songwriter of Motorhead. Fairey's accompanying text celebrates Lemmy as an icon of the hard-rocking, hard-living lifestyle and frames the print as a tribute after Lemmy's death from cancer.
What source photograph was used?
The image is based on an original photograph by Tony Mottram, credited in the source. Adapting credited source photography into a signed edition is Fairey's standard practice for his portrait prints.
What are the print's specifications?
It is an 18 x 24 inch screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper, signed by Shepard Fairey and issued as a numbered edition of 550. It was published by Obey Giant in 2021 at a release price of $65.
Why did Fairey make this print?
Fairey describes himself as a longtime Motorhead fan who discovered the band through its snaggletooth logo and the song Ace of Spades. He created the tribute after Lemmy's unexpected death, writing that the songs and the iconic Motorhead logo live on.
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.