KEITH HARING, GROWING 3, GROWING SERIES, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 100, 1988
Taken from Keith Haring’s Growing Series (1988), Growing 3 is a print that shows two figures conjoined at the hip by a target symbol in the centre of the image, depicted in rounded yellow lines against a black backdrop. There is a clear focus on pattern across the entire image and the symmetry of the composition organically develops outwards from the centre. As the Growing Series progresses, it is unclear where some figures begin and end as Haring’s compositions become more complex and interconnected.
Haring’s use of symmetry along a vertical central axis and abundance of form marks a clear affinity with Australian Aboriginal and Aztec art. Across the image Haring creates concentric circles, curving, organic lines, figures and small patterns, bringing them into an abstract pictorial system that moves and flows with the viewer’s eye. Indeed, Haring’s focus on pattern makes this work distinctly ‘primitive’ in both a technical and stylistic sense, much like that of the European Modernists like Klee and Matisse.
Growing 3 evokes a clear sense of collectivism, working together and positive energy as a means to make a political statement on the culture of individualism in 1980s capitalist America. The figures seem to dance across the page, moving against complex patterns, providing the image with a rhythmic character that sparks joy in the viewer.
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.
