Obey at Gallerie d’Italia – Naples: urban art and peace
5 May 2026
Intesa Sanpaolo opens to the public at Gallerie d’Italia – Napoli the exhibition “OBEY: Power to the peaceful”, curated by Giuseppe Pizzuto. OBEY – the artistic name of Shepard Fairey – is one of the most influential artists in the contemporary urban scene.
Shepard Fairey’s works explore the contradictions of our time: propaganda and counter-information, justice and inequality, denied rights and voices of resistance.
A journey through urban art and civic engagement
The exhibition stems from the urgency to reflect on one of the most crucial issues of our time: peace as an active choice and a shared responsibility. OBEY’s work encourages the imagination of new spaces for dialogue, solidarity and change.
The exhibition features more than 130 works, including iconic pieces, 15 new works and archival materials, offering an overview of Shepard Fairey’s artistic evolution. The display is organised into four thematic sections: People Power, Propaganda, War and Peace, and Social Justice.
Shepard Fairey, internationally known as OBEY, is one of the most influential artists in the contemporary urban art scene. Emerging from skate culture and 1990s underground graphics, the OBEY project has become one of the most recognisable visual languages in global public art. Through posters, screen prints and murals across cities worldwide, Fairey has developed a powerful and immediate aesthetic that reinterprets the codes of propaganda into tools for social critique and political awareness.
His work achieved global recognition also through the iconic “HOPE” image created for the presidential campaign of Barack Obama, which has become one of the most emblematic visual icons of contemporary culture.
The exhibition is organised in collaboration with Wunderkammern, active in promoting street art and public art, while the catalogue is published by Società Editrice Allemandi.
Intesa Sanpaolo’s role in the dialogue between art and society
With this initiative, Intesa Sanpaolo continues the cultural programme of the Gallerie d’Italia dedicated to the relationship between contemporary art and urban space. Following the exhibition by JR, the Naples museum further strengthens its role as a platform for reflecting on collective identity and social transformation.
Gallerie d’Italia – Naples, together with the museums in Milan, Turin and Vicenza, is part of Intesa Sanpaolo’s Gallerie d’Italia museum project.
The exhibition is open to the public from 6 May to 6 September 2026. For further information, please visit the Gallerie d’Italia website.
1.Obey (Shepard Fairey)
MOD / Wide Awake, 2023
tecnica mista su tavole di legno, 182,9 x 182,9 cm
© Obey Giant Art Inc.
ph Jon Furlong
2.Obey (Shepard Fairey)
MOD / Discourse 60, 2023
tecnica mista su carta, 69,2 x 68,6 cm
© Obey Giant Art Inc.
ph Jon Furlong
3.Obey (Shepard Fairey)
My Florist is a Dick, 2019
serigrafia e tecnica mista su carta (HPM), 104,1 x 76,2 cm
© Obey Giant Art Inc.
ph Jon Furlong
4.Obey (Shepard Fairey)
Obama Hope, 2008
litografia, 60,96 x 91,44 cm
© Obey Giant Art Inc.
ph Jon Furlong
5.Obey (Shepard Fairey)
Chaos Rise Above, 2023
tecnica mista su carta, 132,1 x 96,5 cm
© Obey Giant Art Inc.
ph Jon Furlong
Last updated 5 May 2026 at 14:37:17
