Original “Reagan Slain by Hero Cop” flyer made from Keith Haring's original newspaper collage done, ca. 1980

ORIGINAL "REAGAN SLAIN BY HERO COP" FLYER MADE BY KEITH HARING FROM HIS ORIGINAL NEWSPAPER COLLAGE

One of the leading figures in street art and the New York underground movement, Keith Haring was of the most dynamic and vigorous artists of his generation. Having achieved the audacious feat of imposing his own unique style on the international art scene, he died just before turning 32, leaving a chasm among his contemporaries and a legacy recognized the world over.

The current lot, Reagan Slain by Hero Cop, comes from the collection of Leonard Abrams, former editor and founder of the influential downtown publication, the East Village Eye. According to Abrams, he acquired the piece off of a traffic box circa 1980, a time when Haring was papering pockets of New York City with his assembled newspaper collages that would stick to the previously assembled layers of posters and flyers. In 1982, the Eye ran a feature about the rising street artist.

“The most notorious of my street pieces were the ones that looked like the front page of the New York Post. I’d cut out letters from the Post and rearrange them to make fake headlines, like REAGAN SLAIN BY HERO COP or POPE KILLED FOR FREED HOSTAGE or MOB FLEES AT POPE RALLY. I Xeroxed these in the hundreds and I’d paste them on lampposts and on newsstands. Because they looked so real, people were forced to confront them. They were completely confused—and the posters really made a mark, because they got into people’s consciousness.” -Keith Haring (from John Gruen, Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography")

Provenance:

The Collection of Leonard Abrams

Literature:

Sheff, David, "Keith Haring: Just Say Know," Rolling Stone, August 1985

Condition Report:

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