By Keith Haring
Located in NEW YORK, NY
Keith Haring Rain Dance 1985:
RARE original 1980s Keith Haring illustrated poster announcement for a legendary Keith Haring UNICEF benefit party at Larry Levan’s Paradise Garage in 1985. An event organized & curated by Keith Haring; with cohosts including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein & more. A event organized by Haring on behalf of UNICEF’s African Emergency Relief Fund. Beautifully combines Haring’s trademark kinetic figures set amidst a standout blue and black color-way. Rare.
Medium: Offset lithograph in colors on smooth wove paper. 1985.
Dimensions: 8.5 x 11 inches (folded open).
Fair overall vintage condition. Minor wear to center fold-line; minor separation to the mid far-left edge; surface loss lower left. Otherwise well-preserved.
Printed signature, ‘Keith Haring 1985’ on lower right from a scarce edition of unknown.
Looks fantastic framed.
More on Keith Haring Rain Dance:
Curated and organized by Keith Haring, Rain Dance was a 1985 benefit for UNICEF’s African Emergency Relief Fund. Participating artists famously included: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Larry Levan, Fred Brathwaite, Christo, Francesco Clemente, George Condo, Crash, Futura 2000, Jenny Holzer, John Lennon, Roy Lichtenstein, Robert Mapplethorpe, Brice Marden, Robert Morris, Yoko Ono, Lee Quiñones, Robert Rauschenberg, Kenny Scharf, Julian Schnabel, Richard Serra, Cindy Sherman, Tseng Kwong Chi, and Andy Warhol.
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Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990), a Neo-Pop and Graffiti artist, had a short but prolific career centered on a vision to unite “high art,” urban aesthetics, and public spaces using humorous, irreverent, and poignant works. Born in Pennsylvania, Haring attended the Ivy School of Art in Pittsburgh for two years, planning to become a commercial artist. He found this path unsatisfying, and instead chose to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he met fellow artists Jean Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf. Haring immersed himself in the culture of the city’s streets and clubs, and, in 1980, began covering the blank billboards on subway station walls with his Subway drawings in chalk.
Haring’s bold public art attracted the attention of several galleries, and, by the early 1980s, he was painting Neo-Pop works and large murals full time. In an effort to make his art widely accessible, Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 in downtown New York, selling commercial items adorned with his signature, cartoonish imagery. Haring combined graffiti, hip-hop, and urban aesthetics, frequently depicting animals, figures, commercial icons, sexual imagery, and childlike motifs in pieces that were both playful and concerned with social issues.
His work became increasingly confrontational following his 1987 diagnosis of AIDS. Haring resolved to work harder than ever in his remaining years, creating pieces with a fervent speed and devoting his art to social action in addition to his personal expression. In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, whose goal is to promote art programs and public spaces for children, and to raise awareness about AIDS.
Haring died on February 16, 1990 in New York at the age of 31. In addition to hundreds of exhibitions held during his lifetime, Haring has been the subject of numerous retrospectives in New York, San Francisco, Paris, Tokyo, Los Angeles and Berlin since his death.
Related Categories:
Keith Haring posters. Keith Haring activist poster. Keith Haring Dancers. Street art. Graffiti. 1980s. Keith Haring Larry Levan. Keith Haring Paradise Garage...
Category
1980s Contemporary Klaus Basset Art
MaterialsLithograph, Offset
