The Beatles Print Set
From The Giant: The Definitive Obey Giant Site
Year: various years
Run Size: various
Size: 18x24
Paper: unknown
Print Type: Screen Print
This set is considered by many collectors to be the "holy grail" of Obey prints (sometimes fetching up to $6000 for the set, it is definitely the most expensive). These images are based on John Kelley's photographs of The Beatles (with Andre substituting for George Harrison); for more information, see The Beatles. Please see individual prints for year and run size information.
From Supply and Demand, pg. 261:
With the Beatles series, I again hijacked something with more cultural clout than Andre the Giant or professional wrestling, or my dada art project for that matter. In a sense, the Beatles are such a venerated pop culture institution that replacing George Harrison’s face with Andre’s is kind of irreverent, but people also have such a positive association with the Beatles that there’s somewhat of a Pavlovian euphoria to just produce portraits of the Beatles and associate Andre with it. That was one of my most sought-after sets of work, another example of my piggybacking onto the cultural cache of something and benefiting from it, but I don’t really feel guilty about it because that’s the currency out there, and there are lots of exchanges of cultural currency.
Prints in This Set: Andre - Four Giant Beatles - John - Paul - Ringo - The Fifth Beatles Print