Keith Haring Untitled (Hand) (Littman p.70-71) For Sale

Untitled is a photoprint created by the artist in 1987. The striking image depicts Haring’s experiments in body painting - for which his collaboration with Grace Jones a year earlier would further skyrocket the artist’s success. 

Haring had already revolutionised and rejected ordinary modes of installation with his Subway Drawings, bringing his pictures to the everyman on the street. As in the present work, he would now turn to the body as a new and unconventional canvas.  

Described as a ‘A microuniverse on the palm of his hand’, Haring’s palm features a seemingly infinite array of miniature eyeballs, skulls, matchstick people and dogs. Aside from these figures are dizzying symbols and shapes: without viewing the montage closely, his drawing appears tribal-like in structure and inspiration.  

Whilst Haring is widely known for full body painting – his covering of Grace Jones was a four hour long process - the painting of the hand alone in this photoprint is deliberate and significant. The hand is a religious and spiritual symbol: Haring’s outward facing palm resembles the hamsa amulet from the Middle East which is also found in Judaism and Christianity. A year later in 1988, Haring would return to the hand as a symbol in a painting, Healing Hand, that depicted fingers as lively people united.  

Untitled is an important work in demonstrating Haring’s often underestimated technical virtuosity. Although widely known for a visual lexicon that is naïve in appearance to convey his message to a mass audience, the precision and spontaneity of his method in drawing in such a small scale (and in such fine detail) is impressive.