Strummerville Version 2

SHEPARD FAIREY (B. 1970)

Strummerville, Version 2

signed and dated by the artist on the front of the canvas

mixed media (stencil, silkscreen and collage) on canvas

41 x 30 inches (104.1 x 76.2 cm)

Executed in 2015.

Shepard Fairey's portrait of Joe Strummer, built from a photograph by Kate Simon — the photographer who also shot the cover of The Clash's 1977 self-titled debut LP. The image was first developed for Strummerville, the charity established in 2003 by Strummer's widow Lucinda Tait to honor Strummer's belief that music can inspire and empower; Fairey produced the design at Tait's request and released a paper edition of 450 on cream Speckle Tone paper in 2014. The present canvas is the artist's second iteration of the composition, executed in 2015 as a mixed media work — stencilled, silkscreened and collaged on canvas — distinct from the paper edition.

The Clash were, by Fairey's own account, his all-time favourite band, and Joe Strummer one of his enduring personal heroes "for his music, lyrics, wit, compassion for the underdog and stance against injustice." Strummerville, Version 2 sits among the most explicitly elegiac works in Fairey's wider portrait series.

PROVENANCE:

From the artist's studio