Artwork details

Artist

Shepard Fairey

Title

Che Reissue

Description

This piece is signed and numbered in pencil.

This is a very rare edition of only 10 pieces made, all artist proofs.

"The Che Guevara photo, taken by Alberto Korda in 1960, is probably the most clichéd image of rebellion worldwide. I stole it not so much to endorse what Che was about or what he did, but to demonstrate that symbols become easy to manipulate after they have a life beyond their real history. I see lots of kids with Che t-shirts who probably know nothing about him besides his rebel status. I tried to capture some of the essence of the original Che photograph, but it’s clearly not Che’s face – it’s Andre the Giant’s face. After this picture sat in the window of a San Diego art gallery for three months, a clerk across the street pointed at my Andre icon face t-shirt and exclaimed, 'Che Guevara! I too am a fan of Che Guevara.' It just shows how people’s memory can be reconditioned through imagery."

- Shepard Fairey

Date

2000

Medium

Screenprint

Edition

Edition of 10 Artist Proofs

Signature

Signed

Sheet

24 x 18 inches

Price

Price on request

Shepard Fairey

Originally a skateboarder, Shepard Fairy came into the art world from the streets. As a contemporary graphic designer, illustrator, street artists and activist, his stickers, stencils, screen prints, illustrations, collages and works in wood and metal provide an authentic, inspiring and provocative voice. His aim with his art is to encourage the audience to question themselves, their environment and their assumptions – he wants to provoke a reaction. He first came to prominence with a sticker campaign, ‘Andre the Giant Has a Posse’, with images sourced from the tabloid publication, Weekly World News. He uses images from popular culture to hold up a mirror to the way his audience thinks, feels and consumes. Along with his partners Dave Kinsey and Philip DeWolff, he is a founder member of the BLK/MRKT Inc design studio, that supplies guerrilla marketing for organisations as diverse as Pepsi, Mozilla and Hasbro. He’s had exhibitions at several notable galleries, including: The National Portrait Gallery in Washington DC, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts in Richmond and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. One of his most renowned works is a poster he produced for Barak Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign with the word ‘Hope’ emblazoned on it.