RALEIGH - In a former storefront where a shopkeeper once sold women's dresses and fine hats, artist Ray Noland is selling Barack Obama.

Using the eye-catching techniques he learned peddling products for corporations, Noland has created posters and paintings to convey what he sees as the energy and possibility of an Obama presidency.

Besides staring out from the walls of what used to be the Ladies Shop at Wilmington and Hargett streets, the images have been spotted tacked to buildings around town. Obama seemingly staring into the viewer's own eyes. Obama in silhouette speaking into a microphone, with the cord plugged into a U.S. map. Obama as Robin Hood, delivering a bundle of riches labeled "health care."

As he and collaborator Rebecca Berdel were hanging the pieces Thursday, Noland said he wants people to wonder, "What is this? Is it politics? Is it design? Is it art?"

"Go Tell Mama" is all those, said Cary Levine, assistant professor of contemporary art history at UNC-Chapel Hill.

"Art has long been used to advance political ideas," Levine said, scanning the images on Noland's Web site, gotellmama.org. It's a technique used by the left and the right, Levine said, those at the top trying to keep their hold on power, and those at the bottom agitating for change. Posters from the era of the Russian revolution come to mind, Levine said, along with war bond posters from World War II, posters advocating civil rights and feminist causes and arguing against the Vietnam War in the 1960s.

To that tradition, Noland adds the use of the Internet to disseminate the images.

Noland, 35, says he started with a poster he created in 2006, before Obama declared he was running. Living in Chicago and watching Obama get elected to the U.S. Senate, Noland was captivated by Obama's community activism and his upbeat style.

To make that first poster, Noland says he searched the Internet for a photograph, which he found on a Time Magazine cover. One of his versions now uses hand-cut stencils and layers of spray paint and resin.

Noland, who worked for years as a commercial graphic artist, has exhibited the pieces in Chicago and Philadelphia, starting in Chicago. He brought the show to Raleigh to take advantage of the political interest in Tuesday's primary. He installed the show in a vacant building because it's affordable, he said, but also because the empty storefront symbolizes those struggling financially in this country that Noland thinks Obama can help.

Noland isn't bothered that his show didn't open before the North Carolina primary. He timed the opening for after the election, he said, to avoid distracting Obama supporters who would otherwise be out encouraging people to vote.

Sales of work from the exhibit allow Noland and Berdel to keep it on the road. As a piece is sold, Noland makes a new one, always slightly different.

The show is free, open to the public and begins with a reception at 6 tonight. After it wraps Sunday, Noland plans to take a few weeks to create new pieces. After that, he'll take to the road again.