KEITH HARING, LUDO 2, LUDO SERIES, SIGNED LITHOGRAPH, EDITION OF 90, 1985
As part of a series of five striking lithograph prints by Keith Haring, Ludo 2 (1985) shows an image of a circular figure with unusual facial features. Set against a plain white backdrop, a frenzy of red lines fills the dark outlines of the figure, working to produce an abstract and ambiguous image.
Haring’s print is reminiscent of Aztec or Aboriginal art through his use of flowing, organic shapes and thick bold lines to create a pattern that plays out across the image surface. Explaining why many of his works resemble Aztec or Aboriginal art, Haring has said “My drawings don’t try to imitate life; they try to create life, to invent life,” something that he believed aligned with so-called primitive ideas. Ludo 2 is exemplary of this notion by forming a rhythmic, kinetic composition that focuses on pattern rather than realism.
Throughout the Ludo series, Haring maintains a dominance of the colour red, depicting eyes, limbs, and other body parts in abstracted forms. There is a sense of anxiety running through each print that differs from much of his earlier work, alluding to a turning point in Haring’s life. As the AIDS epidemic overwhelmed his community in the mid-1980s, Haring’s work began to reflect the difficulties he was facing in his personal life.
Read more about Ludo 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.
