Shepard Fairey: Out Of Print
SHEPARD FAIREY: OUT OF PRINT celebrates the rebellious, democratic force of ink and paper—400+ screen prints and new hybrids honoring the tactile, public power of printing to provoke dialogue, stir thought and spark action.
BEYOND THE STREETS is proud to present SHEPARD FAIREY: OUT OF PRINT, a landmark exhibition devoted to the artist’s lifelong dialogue with printmaking. Bringing together more than 400 original screen prints alongside new and re‑mixed works that combine screen printing and stenciling, the exhibition surveys Fairey’s enduring commitment to the image, the multiple, and the power of mass communication.
“I’m a product of the era of mass production, and the mass culture printing has created. I can’t imagine my art practice without the influence of, and the use of, printing,” says Shepard Fairey. “Some of my biggest art influences were not paintings but printed things like posters, album covers, skateboard graphics, punk flyers, and t‑shirt designs. Printing is a cornerstone of my art practice and philosophy. The printing press began the democratization of art, and I have used printed posters to spread my artwork and messages in public spaces as well as keep my art affordable by printing multiples.”
Spanning early underground interventions to celebrated cultural icons, OUT OF PRINT charts Fairey’s evolution across three and a half decades: from guerrilla placements and hand‑pulled posters to studio editions whose graphic precision and political urgency have entered the global visual lexicon. The presentation highlights the artist’s fluency in the language of advertising and propaganda, recoding those strategies to “arrest visually and provoke intellectually,” and underscores how the reproducible image circulated on walls, in windows, and through wardrobes functions as both civic dialogue and cultural memory.
Alongside historic and rare editions, the exhibition debuts a focused group of hybrid works in which layered stencils, paper, and ink collide—expanding Fairey’s print vocabulary while remaining rooted in the immediacy of the street. Archival materials, process ephemera, and contextual graphics round out the presentation, offering a behind‑the‑scenes look at the artist’s methods and influences posters, album art, skateboard graphics, and punk flyers among them.
“OUT OF PRINT brings together the spirit of the street and the discipline of the studio,” notes Director Dante Parel. “It’s an opportunity to experience the breadth of Shepard’s print practice in one sweep from the subcultural pulse that shaped him to the images that, in turn, helped shape public imagination.”
“Some people say digital media has ended print, but the provocative, tactile experience of a print on a wall or in the wild—can’t be replaced” says Shepard Fairey, “Printing still matters!”