Keith Haring Untitled (Littman p.51) For Sale

Untitled is a drypoint etching with aquatint created by Haring in 1985. Notable for its delicate lithography and wholly abstract nature, the work showcases the artist’s fluency with its complex interlocking pattern. 

Having began as a street artis in New York in the early 80s, using just chalk, a sense of immediacy was instilled in Haring’s art. Due to the very nature and illegality of street art, Haring did not have the capacity to erase or correct his art, but in addition to this, he preferred the method of spontaneity. Evident in the frenetic, mosaic-like structure of the present work, Haring’s lines effortlessly traverse from the centre circle of the image. Its sources and influences are diverse. Whilst street art came to shape the quickness of his line, Untitled is missing in a political or social message, as well as figurative character. It instead evokes the action painting of Jackson Pollock, capturing the very essence of movement with the etching needle. Some time before the present work back in 1978, Haring had already theorised the close relationship: ‘Movement can be taken as painting. Painting as movement’.