KEITH HARING, THE BLUEPRINT DRAWINGS 7, THE BLUEPRINT DRAWINGS, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 33, 1990
Completed the year of the artist’s tragic death by AIDS in 1990, The Blueprint Drawings 7 is a print from Keith Haring’s The Blueprint Drawings series. Originally produced as unique works on paper with Sumi ink, Haring displayed these works in a one-week exhibition in Manhattan in 1980 where not a single drawing was sold. However, he did find success in the sale of several blueprint copies of the original drawings and so revisited the subject in 1990, a month before his tragic death creating a portfolio of 17 screen prints of the original images.
Throughout the series Haring revisits recurring pictograms to communicate complex ideas through a simplistic visual language. In The Blueprint Drawings 2 Haring uses dots to convey the otherness of homosexuality and illness, specifically AIDS, and thus presents the dotted figure as infected. Furthermore, throughout Haring’s oeuvre the stick is a commonly used weapon, used as a means to activate figures, creatures and objects with power and strength.
The Blueprint Drawings 7 shows two anonymous figures rendered in black and white in Haring’s iconic linear style, notably the figure on the right is hanging from its hands and has dots across its body. The uninfected figure on the left is seen poking a stick through the dotted figure’s stomach to exaggerate the dotted figure’s otherness.
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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.
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