Shepard Fairey
American, 1970- Present
Barack Obama, 2008
Color Screen Print on paper
11×13
National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; gift of the Heather and Tony Podesta Collection in honor of Mary K. Podesta
NPG.2008.52
Designed by Shepard Fairey and adopted by Barack Obama for his 2008 presidential campaign, the large-scale portrait that Fairey donated to the Smithsonian is a hand finished collage decorated through stencil and acrylic on heavy paper; the mass-produced posters were printed using a color screen print process. Adorned with red, beige, and different shades of blue, the colors are meant to remind viewers of the American flag. Fairey purposely used these colors in his artwork to reference Obama’s campaign with the “American Dream.” Fairey’s color choice help viewers envision that African-Americans are also capable of achieving the “American Dream.”
Tierra Faulkner