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In 1980, mysterious chalk drawings of simple outline figures began appearing on unused advertising space in New York
City's subway stations. Combining the appeal of Disney cartoons with the sophisticated "primitivism" of such artists as Jean
Dubuffet, these underground artworks were bold, humorous, accessiblesubversive--and unmistakably the work of one man, Keith
Haring.
"One day, riding in the subway, I saw this empty black panel where an advertisement was supposed to go. I immediately
realized that this was the perfect place to draw. I went back above ground to a card shop and bought a box of white chalk,
went down and did a drawing on it.... I kept seeing more and more of these black spaces, and I drew on them whenever I saw
one. Because they were so fragile, people left them alone and respected them; they didn't rub them out or try to mess them
up. It gave them this other power. It was this chalk-white fragile thing in the middle of all this power and tension and violence
that the subway was. People were completely enthralled."
-- Keith Haring, in Rolling Stone, August 10, 1989
| MY PRIZE HARING/PIECE OF ORIGINAL SUBWAY DRAWING |
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| Don Francis in Venice, CA ("Conservation Framing") framed it. The framed size is 31" x 33 1/4". |
| Haring Photograph from Martin Lawrence Galleries |
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| The signature has Haring's trademark "Radiant baby" |
| AN ORIGINAL POSTER |
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| ADVERTISING HIS FIRST SHOW |
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