The Valley Page 14
The Valley Page 14
Signed Print
Keith Haring
Etching, 1989
Signed Print Edition of 80
H 25cm x W 22cm
Critical Review
This signed etching from 1989 is a limited edition of 80 from Keith Haring’s The Valley series. The Valley Page 14 shows a fine line drawing of a man in a protective suit with three cameras and a hand holding a microphone protruding into the right hand side of the frame. Marking a new direction in the artist’s visual language, this print is depicted with very fine black lines, using a hatching technique and conveys a narrative.
For this series, Burroughs copied the text by hand on sixteen sheets of tracing paper, which were photo-etched onto copper plates and printed in red ink. The text which is also titled, ‘The Valley,’ is a chapter from the author’s novel, The Western Lands from 1987.
Much like Haring’s Apocalypse series (1988), this series depicts characters and narratives that are indicative of the artist’s preoccupation with disease, stigma and the end of life. Diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, The Valley Page 14 is representative of the way in which Haring’s work and activism became intensely embroiled in his personal life and the socio-political context of the AIDS epidemic in New York City.
