Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “This Is Your God (HPM)”?
Artist Statement
"This dollar is worth exactly what you are willing to give in order to get it. Obedience is the most valuable currency." This 24 x 31.5-inch "This is Your God" fine art print was produced in collaboration with Hecho Con Ganas and includes three screen-printed layers with a hand-stenciled star to achieve unique variations in color and sheen on each print. I originally produced the 18 x 24-inch version of this print for my "This is Your God" show in 2003 at the Six Space gallery in downtown L.A., for which I sent out 800 hand-stamped dollar bills with the show invitations. The show was an opportunity to explore the sociopolitical message of the Obey campaign by paying homage to John Carpenter's "They Live," a major source of inspiration and the basis for my use of the word "Obey." The movie has a very strong message about the power of consumerism, the lure of status symbols, and the way that people are seduced by advertising. One of my main concepts with the show (and the campaign as a whole) was that obedience is the most valuable currency. People rarely consider how much power they sacrifice by blindly following a self-serving corporation's agenda, and how their spending habits reflect the direction in which they choose to transfer power. In "They Live," the protagonist discovers hidden messages lurking behind billboards and anything commercial, and the money says "THIS IS YOUR GOD" on plain white paper. I designed a graphic that looked somewhat like real money but with that slogan, which was used for the invitations, and a billboard I rented on the corner of Sunset and Hollywood to confront the public. If your money would be better saved or spent elsewhere, please refrain from buying this print. If you genuinely like the art and message and purchase this piece, a portion of the proceeds will benefit the righteous work of Brave New Films, I thank you for your support! -Shepard This Is Your God HPM. 24 x 31.5 inches. Screen Print on Crane's Lettra Ecru 100% cotton rag paper with hand-deckled edges. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 100. Hecho Con Ganas publishing chop in lower left corner Comes with a Digital Certificate of Authenticity provided by Verisart. $600.
Summary
This Is Your God (HPM) is a 2024 screen print published with Hecho Con Ganas in a signed, numbered edition of 100, measuring 24 x 31.5 inches on Crane's Lettra cotton rag paper with hand-deckled edges. Hand-finished with three screen-printed layers and a hand-stenciled star, each print varies in color and sheen. The image reworks Fairey's faux dollar-bill graphic reading "THIS IS YOUR GOD," derived from John Carpenter's film They Live. It restates the OBEY campaign's central idea that obedience and consumer spending transfer power. Priced at $600 with a Verisart digital certificate of authenticity.
Why It Matters
This Is Your God sits at the conceptual core of the OBEY project. Fairey traces the word "Obey" itself to John Carpenter's They Live, in which hidden messages behind advertising and currency expose how consumerism conditions obedience. The faux currency reading "THIS IS YOUR GOD" makes that critique literal: money as the object of worship, spending as a transfer of power to self-serving corporate agendas. As a hand-finished HPM in an edition of 100, this 2024 release elevates a foundational idea into a deluxe, individually varied object, each carrying a hand-stenciled star and unique color and sheen. For collectors, the appeal is doubled: it is both a statement piece articulating the philosophy behind Fairey's most famous word and a scarce, labor-intensive print on premium cotton rag with hand-deckled edges. The artist's own statement frames purchase as a deliberate act aligned with the work's message, and notes a portion of proceeds supports Brave New Films. That self-aware tension between critiquing consumerism and selling a $600 art object is part of what makes the piece resonant rather than hypocritical, and a strong anchor for any OBEY-focused collection.
Collector Perspective
This appeals to dedicated OBEY and Fairey collectors who want a hand-finished, conceptually central work rather than a quick poster. The edition of 100 HPMs, each with unique color and sheen and a hand-stenciled star, makes it attractive to buyers who value individuality and tactile craft on premium Crane's Lettra cotton rag. Its faux-currency imagery and direct link to They Live give it strong wall presence and a built-in talking point, working well in a display that explores consumerism, propaganda, and the origins of the word "Obey." It pairs naturally with other OBEY-iconography and consumer-critique pieces in the catalog. At $600 it is a step up from open-priced screen prints, suiting collectors building a focused, statement-driven OBEY grouping.
Historical Context
The image originates with Fairey's 2003 "This Is Your God" show at Six Space gallery in downtown Los Angeles, for which he produced an 18 x 24-inch version, mailed roughly 800 hand-stamped dollar bills with invitations, and rented a billboard at Sunset and Hollywood to confront the public. Both the show and this image are rooted in John Carpenter's They Live, which Fairey cites as the source of the word "Obey" and a central inspiration for the campaign's critique of consumerism and status symbols. This 2024 HPM edition revisits that foundational concept two decades later at a larger 24 x 31.5-inch scale, hand-finished in collaboration with Hecho Con Ganas. It belongs to Fairey's continuing body of OBEY-iconography work that interrogates how spending habits transfer power, restated for a contemporary collector audience.
FAQ
What is the edition size and how is it finished?
This Is Your God (HPM) is a signed, numbered edition of 100. It is hand-finished with three screen-printed layers plus a hand-stenciled star, producing unique variations in color and sheen on each print. It is printed on Crane's Lettra Ecru 100% cotton rag paper with hand-deckled edges and includes a Verisart digital certificate of authenticity.
What does the image mean?
The print reworks a faux dollar bill reading "THIS IS YOUR GOD," an idea Fairey draws from John Carpenter's film They Live. It expresses the OBEY campaign's central message that obedience is the most valuable currency and that consumer spending transfers power to corporate agendas.
How does it relate to the original 2003 work?
Fairey first produced an 18 x 24-inch version for his 2003 "This Is Your God" show at Six Space gallery in Los Angeles. This 2024 collaboration with Hecho Con Ganas revisits the concept at a larger 24 x 31.5-inch size as a hand-finished edition.
What are the dimensions and price?
The print measures 24 x 31.5 inches and was released at $600. Per the source, a portion of proceeds benefits Brave New Films.
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.