Obama 'Hope' artist has a brilliant new set of posters for inauguration

The artist behind the iconic “Hope” poster of Barack Obama that became synonymous with his successful presidential campaign has released a new set of images, just in time for Trump’s inauguration and the subsequent Women’s March.

Artist Shepard Fairey, who created the original in 2008 as well as a less flattering Donald Trump print complete with the caption “Demagogue,” has shifted his focus this time round.

Now his images center on a diverse mix of people rather than leaders, as millions plan to take to the streets to protest the incoming president. 

Fairey’s new designs are part of a bigger movement entitled “We the People,” which includes 18 artists in total. The nonprofit Amplifier Foundation commissioned the work as part of a campaign fighting against what organizers listed as “hate, fear and open racism.” 

In a similar style to his Obama portrait, Fairey created four posters showing different types of Americans and what they stand for.

A Kickstarter page for the project had raised more than $1.3 million Wednesday evening. It lays out a plan to take out full-page ads in the Washington Post with the “We the People” prints that would run on Inauguration Day.

“People across the capitol and across the country will be able to carry them into the streets, hang them in windows, or paste them on walls,” it says.

Other activist artists with their work featured in the series are Ernesto Yerena and Jessica Sabogal.

Fairey posted on his website that at his Los Angeles gallery exhibition opening Friday he will be passing out “We the People” prints in time for Saturday’s Women’s March. “If you plan on marching this Saturday in Downtown, Los Angeles, carry these signs high with pride!” he wrote on the site.

For others, the prints are available online to print and carry as long as they aren’t used for commercial purposes.

Fairey ran into legal trouble in 2009 with his Obama “Hope” poster, after the Associated Press accused him of copyright infringement for using one of their photos of the president as the basis for his work. They have since settled.