Clash of Legends: Shepard Fairey's Homage to Basquiat and Haring (2010

Edition Size: 450 each (2010)
Size: 18×24"
Medium: Screenprint on cream paper
Current Market Estimate: $500–$600 each / $1,000+ per set
Appeal: Cultural bridge between three generations of activist-artists

In 2010, Shepard Fairey created a screenprint diptych that served as a tribute, a declaration, and a cultural baton pass: Basquiat Canvas and Haring Canvas. Each print was a masterstroke of street-art lineage, paying homage to two icons—Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring—whose DNA pulses through Fairey's own visual code.

These 18×24" prints, released in editions of 450, sold for $60 each—then vanished. Using vintage photos (Patrick McMullan's of Haring and Tamra Davis's of Basquiat), Fairey layered his signature propaganda styling atop portraits that vibrate with reverence. He substituted slogans for spirit, replacing politics with pure cultural power.

Basquiat is shown wide-eyed, ghostlike, a patron saint of chaos and brilliance. Haring grins beneath a halo of his own symbols, paired with his famous quote: "Art is for everybody." It's a celebration and a manifesto in one. Both prints feel like album covers from an era that never was.

Collectors recognized this immediately. The set is now a prized duo, with clean examples trading above $1,000 for the pair. They're also among Fairey's most referenced works in gallery retrospectives, often used to trace lineage between '80s Downtown grit and modern street activism.

More than portraits, these prints are a family tree—Fairey saying, "I am because they were." For those curating a lineage of revolutionary art, this set is essential.