Lithograph, 1989
Signed Print Edition of 90
H 56cm x W 42cm
The Story Of Red And Blue 2 from 1989 is a signed colour lithograph in a limited edition of 90. This print is part of Keith Haring's The Story Of Red And Blue series.
Presented in the form of a children’s story book, this series is representative of Haring’s desire to create a visual language that appealed to both children and adults alike. Throughout the series he limits his colour palette to bright red and blue and renders each image in his distinctive linear style with black rounded lines.
The Story Of Red And Blue 2 shows a line drawing portrait of a baby looking up at a mouse on its head, depicted through bright blue paint with its features drawn on top in black. This is a playful and appealing image that is reminiscent of traditional children’s story book illustrations, however throughout the series there seems not to be any cohesive storyline.
Across the first half of the series, each print alternates in colour between red and blue and by the end of the series the two colours appear together in the prints. In each print Haring uses simplified and generic pictograms to produce the effect of a children’s story book without a sensical storyline, where instead this story seems to focus abstractly on the colours red and blue.