KEITH HARING, RETROSPECT, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 75, 1989
Keith Haring’s print Retrospect from 1989 features a grid of 24 colourful images, presented in the visual vocabulary of a comic strip. Bringing together some of Haring’s most recognisable motifs into the one print, each frame is rendered in his classic simplified and linear style filled with bright, block colours.
Retrospect is indicative of Haring’s desire to create a universal pictorial language that emanates positivity and can be understood by adults and children alike. In using saturated colours, thick outlines and flattened pictorial surface, Haring plays into the visual culture of commercialism and advertisement that characterised 1980s New York. Through enlargement of scale and by establishing his trademark style, Haring brings commercialism into the realm of fine art, fulfilling his populist ideas around creating art for the masses.
Each frame in Retrospect shows a strikingly simplistic figure dancing and moving in a way that radiates a joyous energy to the viewer. This is emphasised by Haring’s use of action lines across the grid and saturated colour palette. Many of these images were taken from Haring’s original Pop Shop series (1988), where he sold these prints at an affordable price to the public.
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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.
