Fertility 2 Keith Haring

KEITH HARING, FERTILITY 2, FERTILITY SUITE, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 100, 1983

Keith Haring’s Fertility 2 is the second work in his Fertility Suite from 1983 featuring a neon, otherworldly landscape conveying themes surrounding life, death and illness. Using bright neon colours of pink, red, green, orange and yellow to form a landscape against a black backdrop, Fertility 2 has a futuristic character that is charged with tension.

The print’s central subject is a brightly coloured and spotted ancient Egyptian pyramid, a common motif in Haring’s work that symbolised both antiquity and eternity. Haring’s allusion to the mysteries of ancient civilisation are juxtaposed with the imagination of extraterrestrial civilisation through the depiction of UFOs that have come to represent positive energy and empowerment to those who are situated outside of accepted social norms.

Haring’s use of dashes, dots and large spots are used to allude to the lesions of people who live with HIV/AIDS. This landscape is seemingly overwhelmed by the disease and threatens the pregnant figure in the bottom left hand corner, whilst the unaffected UFOs attack the sacred monument in the centre. Haring was a prominent HIV/AIDS activist and Fertility 2 represents the saving of children and humanity from the horrors of illness and inactive leadership.

Read more about Fertility Suite by Keith Haring. 

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.