PUTIN’S ASHES (PUSSY RIOT) 2023 by Shepard Fairey

Artist: Shepard Fairey
Dimensions: (print) 18 x 24 inches
Medium:  Screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper.
Provenance: Signed by Shepard Fairey.
Edition: Numbered edition of 450. (Xxx/450)
Year: 2023

Condition: Excellent

About the print:
I have admired Pussy Riot and Nadya Tolokonnikova since I first saw their visually and sonically fierce performances, methods of protest, and messages of social justice. I’ve wanted to collaborate with Nadya and Pussy Riot for years because of our shared belief that art and performance are powerful tools of social change. Pussy Riot has been subjected to Putin’s brutality and methods of oppression firsthand, so their comments on Putin and the invasion of Ukraine are especially relevant. Putin’s Ashes is a beautiful, haunting, evocative video and music piece. In working on a visual for Nadya’s show at Jeffrey Deitch Gallery, I illustrated from video stills and imagery that Nadya provided in an attempt to encapsulate the powerful aesthetics of Pussy Riot and the narrative of the music video piece. I’m honored to collaborate with Nadya, who I think is one of the most fearless, articulate, and outspoken multi-media artists and activists working today.

–Shepard

About The Framing and Mounting

This print is float mounted using our standard white frame (7/8 wide by 1.25″ tall) and is 22″ x 28″ with a 2″ margin on superwhite + 5/8″ white spacers and UV Gallery Acrylic

About The Artist

 From Streetartbio.com

Frank “Shepard Fairey” is a very famous graphic artist, muralist, and overall artist. He was born on February 15, 1970 in Charleston, South Carolina in the United States. In 1988, the artist graduated from Idyllwild Arts Academy in Palm Springs, California. He earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, Rhode Island in 1992.

As a young adult, Shepard Fairey became very interested in art. He soon began to use his drawings in T-shirts and skateboards. He was a skateboard-obsessed art student. While in school, Shepard Fairey held a part-time job in a skateboarding shop. Soon after, he hit the skateboard community hard by pasting homemade stickers all over the place. It was then that he realized his desire and interest in the street art culture and graffiti movement. Another strong influence was his love for punk music, which he demonstrated stencils.

One of the first images he ever used was that of Andre the Giant. Shepard Fairey found this image in a newspaper ad and he chose to introduce it to the streets.

Shepard Fairey is one of the most influential street artists of our time. Shepard Fairey’s work has been used in screen-prints, stencils, stickers, masking film illustrations, wheat paste, collages, sculptures, posters, paintings, and murals. Shepard Fairey enjoys working with the colors black, white, and red. Fairey has constantly shifted between the realms of fine art, commercial art, street art, and even political art.