About

This Prevent Police Boredom print is an updated version of my first “art” screen print (a print on paper rather than just on a t-shirt) from 1989. Long before I was arrested for street art, I was being hassled and arrested by the cops for skateboarding. I was inspired by the skateboard culture maxim of “question authority” and Black Flag’s song “Police Story” and created this image of a kid holding a skateboard being grabbed by a cop. I thought this would be a great image to update for the #DIY skateboard show at @SubliminalProjects because the first versions I made of Prevent Police Boredom for a sticker and a t-shirt included the text “Prevent police boredom… skateboard” in Old English, but my art teacher told me to leave the text off of the print on paper… which I later realized was shitty advice! I now have a poster version of the art which includes that essential text and I made 25 versions with different hand-stenciled backgrounds with my tributes to classic 80’s skate and punk iconography. Each of the stenciled versions has unique embellishment.

-Shepard

Prevent Police Boredom. 18 x 24 inches. Screenprint on white Speckle Tone paper. Signed by Shepard Fairey. Numbered edition of 450. SOLD OUT. Available Tuesday, May 22 at 10AM (PDT) on ObeyGiant.com. Limit 1 per person/household.

A limited amount of these prints, as well as the 25 hand-stenciled versions, will be available in store at Subliminal Projects in Los Angeles for the opening of DIY: The History of Creative Culture in Skateboarding, May 19, 2018 at 7pm. To attend the opening reception RSVP at Subliminalprojects.com.