Apocalypse 9
Apocalypse 9
Signed Print
Keith Haring
Screenprint, 1988
Signed Print Edition of 90
H 96cm x W 96cm
Critical Review
This signed screen print is a limited edition of 90 from Keith Haring’s Apocalypse series (1988). Making up one of the artist’s most compelling works, Apocalypse 9 shows a demonic head, ‘devil sperm’ and a naked man hanging upside down from his feet. This print is created with bright splashes of green, red and yellow and thick, bold lines.
Haring uses collage to embed a 19th century portrait of Saint Fabiola into the print and form the head of a deformed creature. Fabiola was a nurse and Roman matron who renounced all earthly pleasures to devote her immense wealth to helping the poor and sick. Contextualising the original image within the chaotic scene through his pop-graffiti style, Haring uses this historical imagery and high culture to provoke dialogue on contemporary concerns with HIV/AIDS.
Two of Haring’s most cited works of influence, Dante’s Inferno and Hieronymus Bosch’s The Garden of Earthly Delights, come to the forefront in this image. In Apocalypse 9 the end of the world is strongly linked to the ongoing HIV/AIDS epidemic. Dante and Bosch’s works are famous for their moralistic tone and Haring is citing these works, in his distinct cynical approach, to present a dire warning on the perils of sexual joy.
