Shepard's newest Obama statement...

Shepard Fairey’s first Obama portrait since his iconic HOPE poster, designed for the cover of the latest issue of Rolling Stone, has been released.

When asked by the WSJ how this image differs from the the iconic HOPE image, he said the following: Rather than looking like a slick propaganda poster like the “Hope” image did, I wanted it to have more of a painterly look. There’s also a collage in the background, with a lot of different experiences and voices and textures organically mixing together. Also in regards to the painterly aspect, I purposely left the bottom [edge] unfinished, which is both a reference to Gilbert Stuart’s unfinished George Washington portrait, and also meant to speak to the fact that Obama’s presidency has just begun.