By Written by Eric B. Thornton
When Shepard Fairey speaks about print, he isn’t just talking ink on paper — he’s talking revolution. This November, BEYOND THE STREETS presents “OUT OF PRINT”, a sweeping retrospective honoring one of America’s most iconic visual agitators. Opening Saturday, November 15, 2025 at 434 N. La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, the exhibition brings together over 400 original screen prints spanning Fairey’s 35-year career — from renegade wheat-pastes and underground posters to new hybrid works marrying screen printing, stencil, and spray.
For those who grew up spotting OBEY GIANT stickers on street corners, this show feels like coming home to the source. Fairey’s relationship with printmaking isn’t nostalgic — it’s foundational. “The printing press began the democratization of art,” he says, “and I’ve used printed posters to spread my artwork and messages in public spaces as well as keep my art affordable by printing multiples.” It’s a line that captures his ethos perfectly: art for everyone, rebellion by design.
“OUT OF PRINT” charts Fairey’s evolution from his 1989 Andre the Giant Has a Posse stickers to the global visual lexicon that followed — the OBEY campaign, the 2008 HOPE poster, and the We The People series that became the face of resistance during the Women’s March. Across decades and continents, his prints have functioned as cultural currency — biting, poetic, and unrelentingly human.
But this isn’t just a history lesson. Beyond The Streets is turning its La Brea gallery into a living print shop — flames, presses, and all — embodying the urgency of print as a weapon of mass communication. New mixed-media works show Fairey’s experiments with layering paper, stencil, and ink, each one a bridge between the streets and the studio. Archival flyers, punk zines, and album art round out the show, revealing how design, dissent, and DIY culture continue to pulse through his work.
Director Dante Parel puts it best: “OUT OF PRINT brings together the spirit of the street and the discipline of the studio.” Walking through the exhibition feels like flipping through history — the ’90s punk flyers, the anti-war graphics, the modern calls to action — all unified by Fairey’s command of typography, color, and confrontation. His fluency in propaganda language remains razor-sharp, his imagery both familiar and radicalized anew.
As for Fairey himself, he’s not interested in nostalgia for the analog. “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,” he says. And maybe that’s the point. In a world of endless scrolls, a poster still has the power to stop you cold.
Exhibition Details:
🗓 Opening Reception: Saturday, November 15, 2025 (7–10 PM)
📅 On View: Through January 11, 2026
📍 Location: BEYOND THE STREETS, 434 N. La Brea Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90036
⏰ Gallery Hours: Wed–Sun, 11 AM–6 PM
📧 RSVP: [email protected]
BEYOND THE STREETS — founded by Roger Gastman (of Exit Through the Gift Shop fame) — has long been a home for graffiti legends and cultural iconoclasts. With OUT OF PRINT, they’re not just celebrating Shepard Fairey’s legacy; they’re honoring the print as an act of resistance — tactile proof that art still moves faster than algorithms.
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