'Black Gold' by Shepard Fairey, 2015
18 x 24 Inches
Screen print on cream, Speckletone fine art paper.
Limited Edition of 450 (#347/450)
Signed, numbered and dated by the artist.

ABOUT THE ART

"The “Black Gold” poster is a sequel or companion to “Endless Power” and uses a comparison between the tobacco industry and the oil and gas industry to examine truth in advertising, and destruction of the environment.

I designed this print to feel like a “product as hero” advertisement. A lot of shrewd advertising has been created to suggest that things we want are also good for us and society. Perfect examples are the ads celebrating the health benefits of cigarettes. My inclusion of the text “with lung tonic” is a humorous nod to the absurd health claims historically made for harmful products.

Like tobacco companies, oil and gas companies use their deep pockets to create doubt about climate change and to greenwash their image. Oil and gas companies and the car manufacturers who profit heavily from gas powered engines used their power and influence to overturn a zero emissions law in the state of California, effectively delaying electric cars arriving on the market accessibly for 10 plus years. It is dangerous for an industry to have that much power. Scientists hired by fossil fuel corporations represent the minority of the scientific community who claim oil stocks are endless and that oil and gas don’t contribute to climate change. These are the same scientists who, if paid, would claim that smoking cures asthma or gas fumes are a cure-all lung tonic.

Though oil may have originally seemed to be endless, we now know the world’s oil reserves will run out eventually. Estimates range from 10 years to 200 until accessible oil is depleted. The oil was formed by natural geological processes which occurred over millions of years. Oil consumption presently exceeds 25 billion barrels a year and demand continues to spiral upward, out of control. The outcome is inevitable. Wind and sun are renewable and healthy…we’ve got to stop smoking."

- Shepard
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