KEITH HARING, GROWING 1, GROWING SERIES, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 100, 1988
Characteristic of the artist’s vivid figurative style, Growing 1 is a print from Keith Haring’s Growing series (1988). The print features an image of a ‘People Ladder’, one of Haring’s most recognisable motifs, representing a tower of 1980s breakdancers stacked on top of one another. Haring uses thick bold lines and flat saturated colours to produce an image that bursts with energy and vigour.
Haring was concerned with the idea of the democratisation of art and uses his positive visual language as a form of activism to raise awareness around important socio-political issues of the 1980s. The depiction of conjoined figures in the Growing series evokes a sense of community and the power of working together in a capitalist society where the idea of the individual is prioritised over society as a whole.
Growing 1 shows multiple figures stemming from the single individual to represent the way in which Haring sees a collaborative society that is freed from the constraining categories and divisions between gender, class, race and sexuality. Haring’s use of strong lines provides the print with movement as though the figures are dancing. The dancing figures clearly convey a sense of joy and community in a way that reflected the artist’s love of hip hop emerging in New York City in the 1980s.
Read more about Growing 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.
