KEITH HARING, BARKING DOGS, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 30, 1982
Rendered in the artist’s trademark linear and figurative style, Barking Dogs is a screen print by Keith Haring from 1982. The print shows two dogs barking, a genderless, human figure and a television screen showing another barking dog. Overflowing with symbolism, this print describes the artist’s concern with technology and authoritarian government.
The motifs that appear in Barking Dogs are among Haring’s most famous symbols, originating from his subway drawings from the early 1980s. The dog motif, one of the first symbols reproduced by Haring in the streets of New York, is especially prominent in this print and represents the difference between human power and animal instinct. Moreover, the dots that cover the barking dogs are used to symbolise the perceived otherness of homosexuality. Combined with the artist’s use of energy lines that emanate from the barking dogs, a sense of anxiety is created around this print’s subject.
The television screen is another key motif used by Haring throughout his career. Living through a time of technological acceleration, Haring saw the “machine aesthetic” as a threat to humanity and used the television as a powerful symbol for totalitarian-style manipulation. Haring uses the image of the television screen in this work to symbolise the uncontrollable nature of mass culture.
Discover more Keith Haring artworks.
ABOUT KEITH HARING
Known for his bold graphic style and playful sense of humour, Keith Haring is one of the most influential and adored artists of the 20th century.
Born in Pennsylvania, in 1958, Haring was a talented draughtsman as a child and developed his cartoonish style at the hands of his father and the work of Walt Disney and Dr Seuss. However it would take some time before he realised he could marry this kind of drawing with being a fine artist. Upon graduating from high school he enrolled in a commercial art school before realising he had little interest in pursuing a career as an illustrator or graphic designer. After dropping out of college he joined the hippie movement and hitchhiked across the country where he made anti-Nixon t-shirts to pay for food and Grateful Dead tickets. Learn more about Keith Haring.
