Untitled 1987 (black)
Untitled 1987 (black)
Signed Print
Keith Haring
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Lithograph, 1987
Signed Print Edition of 20
H 60cm x W 100cm
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Meaning & Analysis
Untitled 1987 (black) is a signed, lithographic print by Keith Haring that contrasts starkly with the minimalist technique of his famous paintings. Lithography as a printing process has been known for its ability to produce a meticulous detail, given the way in which ink is applied to a plate that repels the pigment. The use of detail in this work is almost excessive, making its subject matter ambiguous and difficult to pin down for the viewer.
The print is covered densely with a variety of small-sized, thematically unrelated details. When viewed from a distance, the print appears to display a maze of inchoate forms that blend into one another, losing their individual clarity. Examining the print closely, it becomes clear, however, that the overlapping elements are not only varied but also meticulously detailed. Evoking a sense of perceptual chaos, the creatures inserted amid the abundance of patterns and forms range from sexually explicit to abstract and extraterrestrial.
With its dense accumulation of patterns, dimensions, and forms, the work hints at concerns raised by many of the explicitly political motifs of Haring’s works: the excess and alienation defining the late consumerist society. Here, the peculiar creatures floating amid the chaos of forms are placed close to each other and yet appear enclosed and distant.
Experimenting with the chaos of details, the work mediates the image of a collectivity founded on a fractured relationship.
