KEITH HARING, LUCKY STRIKE (WHITE), LUCKY STRIKE SERIES, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 80, 1987
Keith Haring’s screen print Lucky Strike is from his Lucky Strike series from 1987 that were commissioned as advertising posters for the top-selling cigarette brand Lucky Strike. Haring created nine designs, of which five were selected for the print and three were produced as large edition posters with painted signatures.
Lucky Strike shows three jumping and dancing figures that surround the box of Lucky Strike cigarettes in a fun and dynamic composition. This print is typical of Haring’s linear style in his exclusive use of black and white, action lines surrounding the figures and dotted landscape at the bottom. Haring blurs the line between high art and commercialism by creating a print in his unique and recognisable style in the context of a poster advertisement.
Playing into Haring’s ideal of the democratisation of art, this poster was created for commercial purposes and was available for public display and consumption. This print shows Haring’s use of flattened form that mimics the mass-produced nature of the world he was critiquing. The pop of red in the Lucky Strike logo against the exclusive use of black and white, highlights the centrality of the brand name to this poster.
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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.
