Shepard Fairey to Release "A Message from Our Sponsor" on Obey Giant

Shepard Fairey to Drop New Oil-Inspired Print this Week

This week, Shepard Fairey goes back to the well for his latest release (pardon the pun).  His new print entitled "A Message from our Sponsor" once again deals with oil, and is also one of the better pieces from Fairey this year.

The piece incorporates some of the things Fairey does best: A striking illustration of an individual, with a subtle political message. Note the emphasis on subtle, as Fairey's pieces sometimes have the tendency to hit you over the head with a sledgehammer in conveying their message.  Often times, those messages are even spelled out right in the text of the print.  Message from our sponsor, on the other hand, simply has a beautiful woman wearing a necklace with an oil derrick on it. It's a clever way of conveying Fairey's message about what he views as the evils of the oil industry and how they attempt to conceal those evils.

Here's what Fairey had to say about the piece::

The oil and gas industry has long enjoyed a history of strong influence in Washington.  Individuals and political action committees affiliated with oil and gas companies have donated $238.7 million to candidates and parties since the 1990 election cycle, 75 percent of which has gone to Republicans.

These facts only emphasize more and more that our political system is broken.  Gone are the days of democracy and here to stay are the days of a heavily influenced Congress with organizations such as the American Petroleum Institute (API), the industry’s powerful lobbying and trade association, increasing their power to continue to fuel government-backed subsidies.  The hundreds of millions of dollars that the oil and gas industry shell out to employ it’s lobbyists only ensures that policy will never change and our courageous politicians will never stand a chance to reform legislation and repeal these subsidies.

My latest piece, A Message from Our Sponsor, is my interpretation of the powerful, rich, and greedy oil and gas companies and their message to us, the constituents of this “great” democracy.

Drop Details: This goes on sale this Thursday, April 16th, at a random time between 1-2 PM EST. The print measures 18x24, is a signed and numbered edition of 450, and will cost $45. To those going for it, good luck!