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- Artists
- Fairey, Shepard
 - Edition Details
| Year: | 2014 | | Class: | Art Print | | Status: | Official | | Technique: | Original Mixed Media | | Markings: | Signed |
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“Black cats have been unfairly vilified,†says Shepard Fairey, creator of the iconic Hope poster that became a symbol of Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, who consequently depicted a black cat as a member of the Black Panther Party in his contribution â€Radical Cat,†which he shared exclusively with TIME. The background is a collage of newspaper clips about the movement at the time and photos of civil rights leaders Malcom X, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Angela Davis. The feline sports the party’s signature turtleneck and black leather jacket with a sticker of a raised paw, a spoof on the Black Power symbol of a raised fist. Fairey says the outfit is also a play on the slang use of cats as “cool dudes, and the Black Panthers’ getups made sense with that.†So just as superstitious people believe black cats are a threat, FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover stated the Black Panther Party was the “greatest threat to internal security of the country.†Likewise, cats are largely independent, and for those who find that quality about them unsettling, Fairey says his painting portrays how “aspects of independence can be celebrated by some and be seen as terrifying to others.â€
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