KEITH HARING, THE VALLEY PAGE 8, THE VALLEY SERIES, SIGNED ETCHING, EDITION OF 80, 1989
The Valley Page 8 is an etching from Keith Haring’s The Valley series from 1989. The print shows a naked man clambering up an uneven terrain, his arms and legs contorted into uncomfortable positions. This print is rendered in fine black line that marks a departure from much of Haring’s earlier works.
The Valley series is one of many by Haring that when considered in full, tells an unusual story as the sequence of images, combined with text, unfold. Haring’s later works such as The Valley Page 8 have been compared within art historical narratives to the chaotic storytelling of Hieronymus Bosch and the fierce liveliness of his friend and contemporary Jean-Michael Basquiat. Comparable to his Apocalypse series (1988) completed one year earlier, Haring’s images are chaotic and are born from a collaboration with the Beat Era poet and novelist William S. Burroughs, whose text-based ‘cut-up’ method formed the basis of Haring’s pictographic style.
The ominous texts by William S. Burroughs are copied by hand on sixteen sheets of tracing paper, which were photo-etched onto copper plates and printed in red ink. This print tells the story of a people called Corners, who perform for the rest of the Valley people as they enjoy a feast.
Read more about The Valley 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.
