KEITH HARING, WEDDING INVITATION, SIGNED SCREEN PRINT, EDITION OF 50, 1987
Wedding Invitation is a screen print from 1987 by Keith Haring. The print shows two genderless figures depicted in bold, black lines and a beating red heart centred above them. The figure on the right stretches its arm out to embrace the figure on the left and it is clear that the print’s message centres around love, friendship and joy.
Haring uses his iconic energy lines to enact the movement of the beating heart and the liveliness of the figures embracing, working to create a print that is full of life. Throughout his artistic oeuvre, Haring used the motif of genderless figures embracing as a symbol for the power of working together. Thus, this joyful pictogram is apt for an invitation to a wedding, where the two figures in the image come together under a beating heart.
Published in an edition of 50 this print is signed by the artist. Though Haring had experimented with print techniques such as lithography in the late 1970s it wasn’t until 1983 that he began making screen prints. Representing the union of Haring’s painting and printing practice, it is an important part of his catalogue raisonné and demonstrates the essential importance of the drawn line in his work.
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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.
