Candidate-related art taking off

Last week's New Yorker magazine cover, an illustration depicting Sen. Barack Obama and his wife as fist-bumping terrorists, has been all over the news. But that isn't the only Obama-related artwork attracting attention these days.

Collectors, investors and fund-raisers -- many of them looking to cash in on the candidate's popularity and place in history -- are snapping up campaign posters and other works depicting Obama.

On Saturday, Def Jam Recordings founder Russell Simmons will host his annual celebrity-studded benefit, where a stenciled Obama portrait titled ''Hope'' by artist Shepard Fairey will be auctioned off. Pre-bidding was already at $60,000, double its initial estimate. ''I have a feeling that this painting is going to be very valuable,'' says Simmons.

Much of the Obama art market is centered on ''street art,'' a graffiti-inspired genre that takes the form of posters, stickers and other works that are meant to be plastered in public spaces. Limited-edition campaign posters that originally sold for as little as $45 are now selling on eBay for thousands of dollars.

The expected price appreciation extends to works by artists who aren't well-known. For example, a Scott Hansen poster called ''Progress'' (edition of 5,000) sold on the campaign's Web site for $70 each. After it sold out, it went for as much as $300 on eBay, but now it sells for roughly $120.

WSJ