Keith Haring - Untitled (Tree of Life) - Artestar licensed print - COA

Keith Haring Offset Lithography (*) Reproduction of the artwork “Tree of Life,” acrylic on canvas created by Haring in 1985. Luxury edition on conservation-grade matte digital paper (250 g/m²). Authorized print by Artestar New York. Copyright: Keith Haring Foundation. Includes Certificate of Authenticity (COA). - Sheet dimensions: 52 x 62 cm - Motif dimensions: 40 x 50 cm - Condition: Excellent (this work has never been framed or exhibited, always kept in a professional art folder, so it is offered in pristine condition). - Provenance: Private collection. The work will be carefully handled and packaged in reinforced cardboard. Shipping will be tracked (UPS DPD DHL FedEx). The shipment will also include transport insurance for the final value of the artwork with full reimbursement in case of loss or damage, at no cost to the buyer. (*) Keith Haring was born in 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. He grew up in Kutztown and from a young age showed a strong interest in art. He studied graphic design at The Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburg, and at 19, having already openly declared himself gay, he moved to New York, where he found inspiration in graffiti art and enrolled at the School of Visual Arts, where he was influenced by Keith Sonnier and Joseph Kosuth, who encouraged him to train as a conceptual artist after experimenting with form and color. Haring drew public attention in 1980 when he began sketching cartoon-like images with marker in the New York City subway, and then painted with white chalk cartoons on black panels intended for advertising, which earned him more than one arrest. His clean lines, vivid colors, and active figures carried strong messages about life and unity, and his exhibitions were filmed by photographer Tseng Kwong Chi. Also around this time, he organized an exhibition at Club 57 and participated in a show in Times Square, where he first drew animals and human faces. His first solo exhibition was at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1981, the same year he participated in Documenta 7 in Kassel, Germany. In 1982 he befriended emerging artists of the era such as Kenny Scharf, Madonna, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and even met the famous Andy Warhol. In 1984 Haring went to Australia and painted several murals in Melbourne and Sydney, and even received money for his work from the National Gallery of Victoria and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. He also visited and painted in Rio de Janeiro, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, Minneapolis, and Manhattan. During this period he even designed a pink jacket that Madonna wore to perform her song “Like a Virgin” on the program “Solid Gold.” In 1985, the Museum of Modern Art in Bordeaux held an exhibition of his work, and he also took part in the Paris Biennale. In November of that year he appeared on MTV in a program hosted by his friend Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran. In 1986 he painted murals in Amsterdam, Paris, Phoenix, and Berlin, also painted Grace Jones’ body for her music video of the song “I’m Not Perfect,” and opened a shop to sell his works in SOHO. By then, his works began to reflect the socio-political issues of the time such as anti-apartheid, AIDS, and drugs. He also created pop art pieces for brands like Absolut Vodka, Lucky Strike, and Coca-Cola, and even designed the cover of the charitable album “A Very Special Christmas,” on which his friend Madonna was included. In 1988 he was included in a select list of artists whose works appeared on the labels of Chateau Mouton Rothschild wines, and that same year he was diagnosed with AIDS, which led him to establish the Keith Haring Foundation the following year with the aim of fighting social problems related to this disease and making the artist’s work known through exhibitions, publications, and licenses of his work. In June 1989 he painted his last public work on a wall of the Church of Santo Antonio in Pisa. This work was titled “Tuttomondo.” Keith Haring died on February 16, 1990, at the young age of 32 from AIDS. (**) Of epic scale and ambition, Tree of Life (1985) was created at the height of the tragically short but intensely dynamic life and career of Keith Haring. At over three and a half meters tall, Tree of Life takes on almost biblical proportions in its rendering of this fantastic scene. A fusion of punk and pop, Haring injects contemporary energy into this decidedly urban celebration that merges established religious themes and historical references from traditional art with his distinctive culture of modern street art. Emanating from the whirling branches, a plethora of life explodes in the form of dancing bodies, like an explosion of knowledge. Under the tree, four yellow, speckled fully formed figures stand in exaltation. With a economy of line, the green branches, bright as daylight, seem to vibrate against the fuchsia in a carnival of rhythmic patterns. “Look, when I paint, it’s an experience that, at its best, transcends reality,” Haring said, explaining that this dimension was also reflected in his mental state while working. “When it works, you transport yourself to another place, you connect with things that are totally universal, of total consciousness, completely beyond your ego and your own being. That’s what it’s about” (K. Haring, quoted in D. Sheff, “Keith Haring: An Intimate Conversation,” in Rolling Stone, August 1989, reproduced at www.haring.com [accessed May 25, 2014]). “Tree of Life” has been exhibited at the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst in Aachen, the Museum für Neue Kunst in Karlsruhe, the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam, the Milan Triennial in Milan, and the Dexia Banque Internationale de Luxembourg.

Estimate:£126.73

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