Op-Art Icon (Green), 2024 - Value: $750

Framed

Signed Artist Proof, 18 " x 24". Screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper. Framed.

This print is what started it all for Shepard Fairey's wildly successful career as an artist, an activist and an icon. Andre the Giant is the face that surreptitiously showed up on city walls and ultimately took residence in the minds of the world. This iconic piece is priceless.

Donated by the world renowned street artist and social change advocate Shepard Fairey. His art is collected by major museums like the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) and the Art Institute of Chicago.

From the Artist: In the early '90s, I fell in love with '60s psychedelic posters from artists like San Francisco's Victor Moscoso, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, and Rick Griffin, as well as LA's John Van Hamersveld. I was especially drawn to the op-art patterns and color theory used in psychedelic art. I had been making black and white Andre stickers for a couple of years, and I decided it was time to branch out with some playful backgrounds and color theory, so I began experimenting with op-art patterns and intense vibrating colors. Part of the fun was the journey of improving at color theory, and the other part was seeing the polarizing reactions to the psychedelic Andre stickers. Some people thought they were annoying, even nauseating, while others found them exhilarating. Considering my prior punk-rock-minimalism, some people saw the color and style as a betrayal! These Op-Art Icon prints are nostalgic in some ways and of-the-moment in others. They relate to my early '90s explorations but push a lot further with the way the colors weave through the Icon Face image and have the effect of subtle translucency through the spray paint texture. I always have fun finding new ways to use some of my staple images, like the Icon Face, because repetition with evolution is an important principle for the Obey Giant campaign.

https://obeygiant.com/prints/op-art-icon-green/