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Lot Essay
A vivid large-scale work in ink on cardboard, Untitled (1987) bears all the hallmarks of Keith Haring’s exuberant practice. It was executed during his first stay in the Belgian seaside town of Knokke-le-Zout, where he lived on the estate of the artist and collector Roger Nellens: one of the happiest periods of his life. In black and red on a white background, it depicts a strange, goblin-esque nude tumbling backwards down a staircase. Thick jolts of ink capture the vibrations of the creature’s movements. The image is repeated on the bottom right in red, but here the falling figure is one of Haring’s signature cartoonish men. The dates 1981 and 1987 are outlined above. As often with Haring, this apparently whimsical work carries a serious charge. 1981 is the year of the first reported HIV/AIDs cases in America, while 1987 is when Haring himself was diagnosed as HIV-positive. The work was acquired directly from Haring that year, and has remained in the same private collection since.
At Knokke, Haring worked on a number of commissions organised by Nellens, including a vast wall-painting at the local surf club. Nellens had previously hosted artists including Henri Matisse, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely. Haring slept inside Dragon (1972), an extraordinary 33.5m long sculpture created by Saint Phalle and Tinguely as a playhouse for Nellens’ son. It featured a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, as well as a slide in the shape of a lolling tongue. Haring would return several times in the years that followed. He even painted a mural along its staircase, with Saint Phalle’s permission. Other than his New York apartment, Dragon is the only place Haring called ‘home’ in his journals. It was a place of renewed creative energy. He later wrote: ‘I feel more optimistic after being in Europe and I think it might be a good idea to live longer’ (K. Haring quoted in R. F. Thompson, ed., Keith Haring Journals, New York 1996, p. 168).
The present work might be seen as a critical portrait of the HIV/AIDS crisis in America. The black and red images appear to reference parallel timelines in 1981 and 1987: the falling man has become distorted into a monster as the situation has worsened, with victims plagued by misunderstanding and clinical neglect. At the same time, the painting-within-a-painting device pictures an evolution in Haring’s work. From 1986 he developed his graffiti-inspired graphic style into more elaborate and perspectival compositions, newly inspired by European art history. The present work superimposes both of these modes in a dramatic and urgent image. Created at a time of inspiration as Haring stayed in the belly of the dragon, it testifies to an important volta in his trailblazing career.
At Knokke, Haring worked on a number of commissions organised by Nellens, including a vast wall-painting at the local surf club. Nellens had previously hosted artists including Henri Matisse, René Magritte, Joan Miró, Niki de Saint Phalle and Jean Tinguely. Haring slept inside Dragon (1972), an extraordinary 33.5m long sculpture created by Saint Phalle and Tinguely as a playhouse for Nellens’ son. It featured a bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, as well as a slide in the shape of a lolling tongue. Haring would return several times in the years that followed. He even painted a mural along its staircase, with Saint Phalle’s permission. Other than his New York apartment, Dragon is the only place Haring called ‘home’ in his journals. It was a place of renewed creative energy. He later wrote: ‘I feel more optimistic after being in Europe and I think it might be a good idea to live longer’ (K. Haring quoted in R. F. Thompson, ed., Keith Haring Journals, New York 1996, p. 168).
The present work might be seen as a critical portrait of the HIV/AIDS crisis in America. The black and red images appear to reference parallel timelines in 1981 and 1987: the falling man has become distorted into a monster as the situation has worsened, with victims plagued by misunderstanding and clinical neglect. At the same time, the painting-within-a-painting device pictures an evolution in Haring’s work. From 1986 he developed his graffiti-inspired graphic style into more elaborate and perspectival compositions, newly inspired by European art history. The present work superimposes both of these modes in a dramatic and urgent image. Created at a time of inspiration as Haring stayed in the belly of the dragon, it testifies to an important volta in his trailblazing career.