Keith Haring

Estate of the Artist
Jim Kempner Fine Art, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above in September 1999

New York, Doris C. Freedman Plaza, Keith Haring on Park Avenue, June - October 1997 (another example exhibited)
New York, Battery Park City, Keith Haring: Acrobats, March 2004 - November 2005 (another example exhibited)
Luxembourg, Galerie de Independence and Parc Heintz Fondation, Keith Haring: Works from the Navarra Collection, June - September 2007, pp. 59, 202-203, illustrated in color (another example exhibited)

This work is in very good and sound condition overall. There is evidence of light wear to the base, including some light surface scratches and 4 pinpoint areas of loss, which is to be expected as the work has been installed outdoors. The colors are bright, fresh and clean. There are a few minor, localized areas of loss to the blue enamel and one 3-inch scratch on one of the blue arms. There is one minor area of loss to the enamel on one of the hands of the orange figure. Upon very close inspection, there are scattered light and unobtrusive surface abrasions and light spot accretions throughout, all to be expected from a work that is placed outdoors.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

“A painting, to a degree, is still an illusion of a material. But once you cut this thing out of steel and put it up, it is a real thing… It has a kind of power that a painting doesn’t have. You can’t burn it, it would survive a nuclear blast probably. It has this permanent, real feeling that will exist much, much longer than I will ever exist, so it’s a kind of immortality. All of it I guess, to a degree, is like that…” - Keith Haring

Keith Haring’s short career was both astonishingly versatile and truly ground-breaking. Having emerged as an artist on the streets and subways of New York at the start of the 1980’s, Haring quickly made a name for himself as a natural draughtsman and visual urban poet through the subway drawings: simple, humorous and arresting chalk images on black paper pasted up alongside the ubiquitous advertising posters on the New York underground. These posters also allowed him an outlet for self-expression by doctoring the images and attaching false headlines; subvertising as it became known. Having developed his own socially conscious and pop culture-inspired iconography over the following years through murals, paintings, graffiti and design, Haring announced himself as a sculptor of staggering ability on October 26, 1985 at an exhibition of his sculptural works at Leo Castelli’s Green Street Gallery in New York. This latest development came as a fundamental step forward for Haring’s own personal sense of his career and the visual development of his inimitable style. Cut from steel and lacquered in bright colors, these pieces were intentionally designed for public interaction to the extent that Haring smoothed off the edges, painted them in the colors of children’s toys and encouraged their installation in public places. This populism is echoed in the work of artists such as Alexander Calder. By keeping the image structurally refined these works are lent a totemic yet lyrical delicacy that is remarkably balanced and instantly recognizable on both the conscious and experiential level. Imbued with the life and energy of Henri Matisse's paradigmatic Dance (1910), this iconic work is testament to Haring's remarkable artistic invention: Untitled (Acrobats) exudes the vibrant cadence and electrifying pictorial language that engendered some of the most emblematic images of the late 20^th Century.

This is typical of the artist’s desire to integrate into the community, to touch people’s lives with both his passion for the work and the socially activist message inherent in his articulate and compelling technique. In this aspect of his work it is possible to see Keith Haring attempting to create a memorial for posterity out of the MTV inspired culture of the day. He displayed a deep desire to make sense of a turbulent period in the history of America’s attempts to come to terms with divisive issues such as the Civil Rights movement, homosexuality and AIDS and to link his own oeuvre to that goal. More than anything, sculpture gave him the wherewithal to make the attempt.