71
Keith Haring
Totem (Wood)
- Estimate
- £70,000 - 100,000
£150,000
Lot Details
Carved plywood wall relief painted with enamel in colours.
1988
183.8 x 55.8 x 4.9 cm (72 3/8 x 21 7/8 x 1 7/8 in.)
Signed, dated and numbered 2/35 in black felt-tip pen on the accompanying metal plaque (there were also 7 artist's proofs), fabricated and published by Edition Schellmann, Munich and New York.
Specialist
Full-Cataloguing
Literature
Keith Haring
American | B. 1958 D. 1990Haring's art and life typified youthful exuberance and fearlessness. While seemingly playful and transparent, Haring dealt with weighty subjects such as death, sex and war, enabling subtle and multiple interpretations.
Throughout his tragically brief career, Haring refined a visual language of symbols, which he called icons, the origins of which began with his trademark linear style scrawled in white chalk on the black unused advertising spaces in subway stations. Haring developed and disseminated these icons far and wide, in his vibrant and dynamic style, from public murals and paintings to t-shirts and Swatch watches. His art bridged high and low, erasing the distinctions between rarefied art, political activism and popular culture.
Browse ArtistThroughout his tragically brief career, Haring refined a visual language of symbols, which he called icons, the origins of which began with his trademark linear style scrawled in white chalk on the black unused advertising spaces in subway stations. Haring developed and disseminated these icons far and wide, in his vibrant and dynamic style, from public murals and paintings to t-shirts and Swatch watches. His art bridged high and low, erasing the distinctions between rarefied art, political activism and popular culture.