Keith Haring
Keith Haring Free South Africa poster 1985
1985

Name: Keith Haring Free South Africa poster 1985
Brand: Keith Haring
Price: 2700 USD
Availability: InStock

About the Item

Keith Haring Free South Africa 1985: Original 1985 Keith Haring Free South Africa poster- a key historical Keith Haring activist poster designed & created by the artist. This work is featured in the Catalog Raisonne of Haring posters by Jürgen and Osten. A large, vibrant Haring piece that makes for standout wall art within reach. A rare example presented in very good vintage condition. Offset lithograph in colors. Dimensions: 48 x 48 inches. Condition: some minor signs of handling; in otherwise very good overall vintage condition. Original 1st printing 1985 published by the artist. Printed signature lower right. 'As his fame grew, Haring remained dedicated to grassroots activism, and this commitment is aptly on view. For an anti-nuke rally in 1982, he produced 20,000 copies of a poster he freely handed out. Also fierce was his commitment to anti-racism, illustrated powerfully in a 1985 poster, Free South Africa, highlighting a black-silhouetted man with a white noose around his neck trampling a smaller white figure. His outdoor mural in Manhattan, Crack is Wack (1986), powerfully remains and is now a designated city landmark.' (source: Walker Art Center) Keith Haring was an American artist and social activist known for his illustrative depictions of figures and symbols. His white chalk drawings could often been found on the blank poster marquees in New York’s public spaces and subways. “I don't think art is propaganda,” he once stated. “It should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it.” Born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, PA, he grew up in neighboring Kutztown, where he was inspired to draw from an early age by Walt Disney cartoons and his father who was an amateur cartoonist. After briefly studying commercial art in Pittsburgh, Haring came across a show of the works of Pierre Alechinksy and decided to pursue a career in fine art instead. He moved to New York in the late 1970s to attend the School of Visual Arts, and soon immersed himself in the city’s graffiti culture. By the mid-1980s, he had befriended fellow artists Andy Warhol, Kenny Scharf, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and collaborated with celebrities like the singer Grace Jones. Diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1988, Haring’s prodigious career was brief, and he died of AIDS-related complications on February 16, 1990 at the age of 31. Before his death, Haring established the Keith Haring Foundation, a non-profit committed to raising awareness of the illness through art programing and community outreach. Throughout his career, Haring made his art widely available through the location of his murals, as well as through the Pop Shop—Haring's own storefront which he used to sell his memorabilia.The artist’s mural Crack is Wack (1986), can still be seen today on a retaining wall along FDR Drive in Manhattan. Haring’s works can be found in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C. Related Categories Keith Haring Activist. Keith Haring Political. Keith Haring Apartheid. Vintage Keith Haring prints posters. Keith Haring Figurative. Keith Haring South Africa. Keith Haring 1985,

Creator:

Keith Haring (1958-1990, American)

Creation Year:

1985

Dimensions:

Height: 48 in (121.92 cm)Width: 48 in (121.92 cm)

Medium:

Lithograph,Offset

Movement & Style:

Pop Art

Period:

1980-1989