A pop-street art inspired self-portrait drawing on music sheet paper signed by Keith Haring 1986. The drawing depicts a portrait of himself as a sphinxlike character. A similar design was made into a limited-edition print of a 25 edition. Dimensions: 9h x 12w (unframed). In very good vintage condition.
Provenance: This artwork was part of a seasoned art dealer's personal collection. By trade this art dealer was a teacher, but in the 1970s he started collecting and selling art as a supplement income. This turned into a successful business, and he traveled the globe internationally with his son sourcing original artworks by famous modern and post-war artists, as well as Asian and African artifacts. The art dealer is now retired and lives outside of Detroit, Michigan.
Keith Haring (1958-1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has become a widely recognized visual language. Haring's popularity grew from his spontaneous drawings in New York City subways ;chalk outlines of figures, dogs, and other stylized images on blank black advertising spaces. After gaining public recognition, he created colorful larger scale murals, many commissioned. He produced more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989, many of them created voluntarily for hospitals, day care centers and schools. In 1986, he opened the Pop Shop as an extension of his work. His later work often conveyed political and societal themes ; anti-crack, anti-apartheid, safe sex, homosexuality, and AIDS ;through his own iconography.