The image you see above of a rather epic looking Neil Young with guitar is the latest in a series of famous persons portraits by modern artist Shepard Fairey. These images were all had their debut at the May Day show that took place on May 5, 2010. There’s been a wild cross section, boy howdy. This is the first landscape style to be released. Neil Young. Musician and political activist and one classy looking mother.

Some words from Shepard Fairey on his Neil Young image reference’s original photographer, rock and roll photo taker Henry Diltz, the magic man:

ROCK ‘N’ ROLL PHOTOGRAPHER – HENRY DILTZ

Henry Diltz has been one of the most important photographers in rock ‘n’ roll for almost half a century, shooting rock icons from Jimi Hendrix to Kurt Cobain. I met him through Henry Rollins when he was working as a still photographer on The Henry Rollins Show, and have been a fan ever since I first saw his work.

Diltz started out as a folk musician, playing with the Modern Folk Quartet, and bought his first camera while on tour with them. He started hanging out with The Monkees and taking photos of them, and shot an album cover—the first of over eighty he would go on to shoot—for The Lovin’ Spoonful. He immersed himself in the rock scene and became the go-to photographer for bands like The Doors and Crosby, Stills and Nash, and was the official photographer for Woodstock and the Monterey Music Festival. He transcended the hippie generation and continued to shoot an extremely impressive roster of artists too long to list here. The reference photo of Neil Young for this piece was taken in 1969 and my all time favorite photo of Neil.

Thanks for collaborating Henry.

-Shepard Fairey

Also included below is a collection of other fabulous faces from the May Day set, each of them having been released to the internets world over the past few weeks, continuing through when this post is posted. Peek at them.

Neil Young 18 x 24″ Screen Print, Signed by Shepard Fairey and Henry Diltz. Numbered Edition of 450 Nico 18 x 24″ Screen Print, Signed and Numbered Edition of 450 Joe Strummer 18 x 24″ Screen Print, Signed by Shepard Fairey and Kate Simon. Numbered Edition of 450 Jean-Michel Basquiat 18 x 24″ Screen Print, Signed and Numbered Edition of 450 Keith Haring 18 x 24″ Screen Print, Signed and Numbered Edition of 450 (also a separate “green” edition of 450) Muhammad Ali 18 x 24″ Screen Print, Signed and Numbered Edition of 450 Debbie Harry 18 x 24″ Screen Print, Signed and Numbered Edition of 450

This post is part of the World Famous Design Junkies celebritarianism category.