Shepard Fairey: Eat the Rich

Shepard Fairey
Eat the Rich, 2012
Silkscreen
24 x 18 inches
Edition of 550

In 2010, the CAC held a solo exhibition of Shepard Fairey’s work titled Supply and Demand. Among the multiple works he exhibited, Fairey produced a limited edition set of prints, including Eat the Rich. It features a portrait of singer and songwriter Patti Smith, a reference to a large-scale mural he created for the CAC lobby. Rendered as a young and powerful woman, Smith’s expression seems to beckon the viewer, while the text conveys a strong anti-capitalist message. Characteristic of Fairey’s other works, Eat the Rich combines politically charged statements with bold compositions to create an image that evokes a sense of strength and power.

Shepard Fairey was born in 1970 in Charleston, SC. He received his BFA from Rhode Island School of Design (1992). Fairey has been the subject of many solo exhibitions, including at the Boston Museum, Boston, MA (2002); Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA (2009); Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (2010); Centro de Arte Contemporáneo Málaga, Spain (2013); and Lotte Museum of Art, Seoul, Korea (2022). He has also participated in several group exhibitions, including Beautiful Losers, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, OH (2001); Art in the Streets, Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA (2011); and Positive Propaganda: A Decade of Visual Resistance, AMUSEUM of Contemporary Art Munich, Germany (2023). His work is in the collections of the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC; Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; and The New Museum of Design, New York, NY. Fairey currently lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.