Keith Haring

each: signed and dated 83

Gagosian Gallery, New York
Acquired by the present owner from the above

The present lot bears witness to Haring’s deceptively naïve but powerful symbolic language. The crawling baby is Haring’s most famous “tag,” or logo, that has become a synonymous representation of Haring himself. With rays emanating from around its body, this figure is known as the “radiant baby,” symbolizing youthful innocence, purity, goodness, and potential. Haring’s barking dog figure resembles contemporary reimaginations of the half-human half-jackal Egyptian deity Anubis, and formally emulating the ancient iconography that depicted figures within narratives as two-dimensionally flattened and walking linearly in side profile. The recurring barking dog in Haring’s work stands for authoritarian government, abuse of power, police force, and oppressive regimes; the exciting elongated and wriggling figure with the wavy lines underscores Haring’s joyous embrace of life and hope for salvation. Untitled epitomizes Haring’s inimitable aptitude for conveying pulsating movement through forms distilled to their most basic, essential components.