Dimensions: 24 x 18 Inches
Medium: Screen print on thick cream Speckletone paper. Blue variant with reflective silver silkscreen ink.
Provenance: Hand-signed by Ad-Rock, Glen E. Friedman, Mike D, and Shepard Fairey. Numbered and dated by Shepard Fairey in pencil. Comes with Verisart digital blockchain certificate of authenticity on request.
Edition: Limited Edition Artist Proof (AP)
Year: 2023
Condition: Excellent
ABOUT THE ART
"I first heard about the Beastie Boys in 1985/86 because they were on a hardcore compilation album called “New York Thrash,” which also featured Bad Brains, whose name I later discovered had inspired the Beastie Boys’ choice of a name using BB initials. When the Beastie Boys’ album “Licensed to Ill” came out, I was intrigued and exhilarated by their metamorphosis into a hip-hop group because I had mainly been listening to punk. Even though I liked RUN-DMC and the hip-hop from Beat Street and Breakin’, I felt awkward being into hip-hop as a white kid. “Licensed to Ill” was instantly infectious and a thrilling sonic encapsulation of bratty teen rebellion. It was (and is) a great hip-hop album, but it threw in punk and metal references and samples along with the hip-hop ingredients and amazing rhymes. The Beasties blew the doors open for me to embrace other hip-hop like LL Cool J, Public Enemy, Boogie Down Productions, N.W.A., and Slick Rick. “Licensed to Ill” was a life-changing album for me, but also the album that supercharged the crossover of hip-hop to the mainstream begun by RUN-DMC. The only prominent portrait poster of the Beastie Boys that I saw in the record stores of Charleston, SC at the time was a photo taken by Glen E. Friedman of the Adidas-clad Ad-Rock and Mike D sitting on a skateboard with MCA jumping off the Washington Square Park arch in the background. That image is beautifully composed and transports me to my teenage self, who lived for music, skateboarding, and jumping off of stuff. I’m honored to collaborate with Glen on a print based on another photo from that same Washington Square Park session. I think the image conveys the energy and camaraderie of the Beasties as their musical careers were about to explode and transform culture over the course of several masterpiece albums."
– Shepard Fairey
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Frank Shepard Fairey (born February 15, 1970) is an American contemporary graphic designer, and illustrator who emerged from the skateboarding scene. He first became known for his "Andre the Giant Has a Posse" (…OBEY…) sticker campaign, in which he appropriated images from the comedic supermarket tabloid Weekly World News. His work became more widely known in the 2008 U.S. presidential election, specifically his Barack Obama "Hope" poster.
The Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston calls him one of today's best known and most influential street artists. His work is included in the collections at The Smithsonian, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
