Gauntlet Gallery
What is Shepard Fairey’s piece called “Beautiful Controlling Ornate Mandala 3”?
Artist Statement
Shepard Fairey and Damien Hirst Beautiful Controlling Ornate Mandala 3 Spin Painting, 2025 TT3-1 Giclée print on paper 103 x 103 cm (framed) $1,750
Summary
Beautiful Controlling Ornate Mandala 3 Spin Painting (2025) is a Shepard Fairey and Damien Hirst collaboration published by HENI Editions in a first edition of 250. It is a giclee print on paper measuring 103 x 103 cm framed. The square work merges Fairey's ornate mandala patterning with Hirst's centrifugal spin-painting process, producing a radiating, symmetrical-yet-swirling composition. Designated TT3-1 within the joint series, it was priced at $1,750. The print combines Fairey's decorative symbolism with Hirst's chance-based color motion.
Why It Matters
This print anchors the 2025 Fairey/Hirst spin-painting set with a mandala subject, a form Fairey uses to evoke order, ritual, and patterned symmetry. The collaboration's tension is sharpest here: a mandala is by definition centered and balanced, while Hirst's spin process is centrifugal and chaotic, so the work stages a confrontation between control and dispersal, echoed in its title's consumerism-and-power framing. Published by HENI Editions, it belongs to the blue-chip collaborative edition economy rather than Fairey's grassroots output, with a first edition of 250 keeping it relatively contained for a giclee. For collectors, the mandala is among Fairey's most visually intricate recurring forms, and seeing it filtered through Hirst's method offers a distinctive crossover. It appears to align with Fairey's broader mandala and pattern work while gaining significance from the dual authorship. As the TT3-1 entry, it functions as a lead subject within the coordinated four-part series.
Collector Perspective
This appeals to collectors who favor Fairey's mandala and pattern-based work and who want a Fairey/Hirst collaboration with maximal visual density. The 103 x 103 cm framed square delivers strong symmetrical presence, and the ornate mandala subject is among the most decorative and detail-rich in the series. Buyers who collect Fairey's mandala motifs gain a high-production crossover edition, while Hirst followers gain a Fairey link. As the TT3-1 lead of four sibling subjects, it pairs naturally with the dove, justice, and floral versions to complete a set. At $1,750 in an edition of 250, it sits in a mid-to-upper giclee tier where authorship and intricacy outweigh raw scarcity.
Historical Context
The work belongs to Fairey's contemporary collaborative phase and his long-running use of mandala and ornamental patterning, here recast through Damien Hirst's spin-painting process via HENI Editions. The mandala has recurred across Fairey's catalog as a vehicle for symmetry and symbolic density, and this print folds that vocabulary into a jointly authored series. The TT3-1 designation and parallel 2025 releases (dove/peace, earth/justice, flower/diamond) confirm it as the lead component of a coordinated set. It reflects Fairey's expanding presence in the publisher-driven edition market, where his decorative motifs circulate within blue-chip collaborations distinct from his street-rooted work.
FAQ
Who made this and how?
It is a 2025 collaboration between Shepard Fairey and Damien Hirst, published by HENI Editions. It pairs Fairey's ornate mandala patterning with Hirst's spin-painting process, in which paint is spun centrifugally to create swirling radial motion across the design.
What are the edition and dimensions?
The first edition is limited to 250 giclee prints on paper. Each measures 103 x 103 centimeters framed, a large square format. The published price was $1,750.
What does the theme suggest?
The source pairs it with consumerism and power, echoed in the title word 'Controlling.' The mandala form, usually centered and balanced, is set against Hirst's chaotic spin technique, creating a visual tension between control and dispersal.
Where does it sit in the series?
It is designated TT3-1, making it the lead entry among the 2025 Fairey/Hirst spin-painting subjects from HENI Editions, alongside the dove/peace, earth/justice, and flower/diamond versions.
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.