Chocolate Buddha 1-5

The complete set of five lithographs in colors
Medium: Lithograph in colors on Arches Infinity Paper
Year: 1989
Each Image: 19 1/4 x 24 3/4 inches (48.9 x 62.9 cm)
Each Sheet: 22 x 27 3/4 inches (55.9 x 70.5 cm)
Edition: 90
Artist’s Proof: 15
Publisher: Editions F.B./Arts-Litho, Paris
Printer: Editions F.B./Arts-Litho, Paris
Literature: Littmann pp 122-125

Each signed, numbered and dated (lower margin)

The Chocolate Buddha series creates complex, symmetrical patterns through the interlocking of limbs, creatures and objects. Each print features a variety of figures, creatures and objects, their limbs intertwined to create complex, symmetrical patterns. Completed one year before Haring’s death, this series amalgamates the artist’s clear-line figurative style with more complex and integrated compositions to form a series of highly abstracted images. Recalling styles of the ancient world such as Eastern Mandalas and Australian Aboriginal art, the Chocolate Buddha series also shows influence from the European Modernists. This is notable from the way in which the prints focus on flat, richly colored shapes and patterns that play out across the image surface.

Striking a balance between figuration and abstracting, Haring’s Chocolate Buddha series has a kinetic energy, produced through his use of jarring colors and complex patterns. The series has a compulsive quality that fills out across each print in the series that injects the static images with a sense of movement. Furthermore, there is an electric flow of line that is satisfying for the viewer to follow, emphasized by each print’s symmetrical composition. By limiting himself to the use of two tones in each print, and by using his trademark, bold, thick lines, this set of prints maintain the eye-catching simplicity that Haring is so famous for.

1. Chocolate Buddah 1

Chocolate Buddha 1 shows an image of an abstracted face in a symmetrical composition, with the figure’s arms raised above its head. Haring creates an all-over composition of pattern through the use of flattened picture plane and two contrasting colors, red and blue.

Chocolate Buddah 1 (L. p. 123)

“My drawings don’t try to imitate life; they try to create life, to invent life.”

Chocolate Buddha 1 has a kinetic energy that is produced through Haring’s use of jarring colors and complex, intertwining patterns. There is an electric flow of line that is satisfying for the viewer to follow, emphasized by the print’s symmetrical composition. Haring’s print is reminiscent of Aztec or Aboriginal art through his use of flowing, organic shapes and thick bold lines to create a pattern that plays out across the image surface.

2. Chocolate Buddah 2

Chocolate Buddha 2 shows an image of four figures, with their limbs intertwined to create a symmetrical pattern reminiscent of Aztec or Aboriginal art. Haring uses two tones of red in this print, the darker to outline the figures and the lighter to create stripes across the entire picture plane, emphasizing the sense of pattern in the print.

Chocolate Buddah 2 (L. p. 124)

The print has a compulsive quality that fills out across the lithograph that contrasts to Haring’s typical use of simplified form and block color. There is a flow to his use of line that works alongside the symmetrical composition whereby the eye follows the electric lines in harmony with the image. Haring’s use of thin, striped lines across the image creates a jarring effect against the thick, bold outlines of the figures, injecting the static image with a sense of movement.

3. Chocolate Buddah 3

Chocolate Buddha 3 shows an object resembling the artist’s ‘devil sperm’ motif and some intertwining stems that cut through the composition vertically. The central subject is rendered in thick, brown outlines to form a simplified shape and is set against a pink backdrop of loosely drawn hieroglyphs.

Chocolate Buddah 3 (L. p. 124)

Chocolate Buddha 3 includes the ‘devil sperm’ motif, injecting the print with a focus on the threat of male homosexuality. This motif is seen in many other later works like the Apocalypse series (1988), where Haring directly correlates sexuality with death in his depiction of enormous horned sperm, a demoniacal personification of death in relation to the AIDS virus. In the later stage of his artistic career, themes around sex and HIV/AIDS dominated his work, just as it dominated Haring’s personal life after his own AIDS diagnosis in 1988.

4. Chocolate Buddah 4

Chocolate Buddha 4 shows a lively composition of organic linear shapes and figures. Using bold, rounded lines against a flat yellow backdrop, Haring creates a symmetrical image of an otherworldly plant-like form, anchored by sitting figures on either side.

Chocolate Buddah 4 (L. p. 125)

Chocolate Buddha 4 includes phallic and sperm-like illustrations that seemingly move across the print, injecting the print with a focus on male sexuality. In the later stage of his artistic career, themes around sex and HIV/AIDS dominated his work, just as it dominated Haring’s personal life after his own AIDS diagnosis in 1988.

Auction Results

1. Chocolate Buddah 1

Heritage Auctions: 24 October 2023
USD 16,250

KEITH HARING
Plate 1, from Chocolate Buddah, 1989
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
Signed, numbered 1/90 and dated in pencil lower right

Bonhams Los Angeles: 27 September 2022
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 15,575

2. Chocolate Buddah 2

Heritage Auctions: 24 October 2023
USD 16,250

KEITH HARING
Plate 2, from Chocolate Buddah, 1989
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
Signed, numbered 1/90 and dated in pencil lower right

Bonhams Los Angeles: 27 September 2022
Estimated: USD 5,000 – 7,000
USD 4,080

3. Chocolate Buddah 3

Heritage Auctions: 16 April 2024
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 10,625

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Plate 3), from Chocolate Buddha, 1989
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
Ed. 1/90
Signed, editioned, and dated in pencil, lower right

4. Chocolate Buddah 4

5. Chocolate Buddah 5

Heritage Auctions: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 10,312

KEITH HARING
Plate 5, from Chocolate Buddah, 1989
Lithograph in colors on wove paper
Signed, numbered 1/90 and dated in pencil lower right

Bonhams Los Angeles: 27 September 2022
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 16,575

6. Complete Sets

Christie’s New-York: 25 October 2024
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 63,000

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Chocolate Buddha 1-5 (Littmann pp. 122-125), 1989
The complete set of five lithographs in colors on Arches paper
Each signed and dated in pencil, numbered 32⁄90 (there were also fifteen artist’s proof sets)

Christie’s New-York: 26 February 2019
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 50,000

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Chocolat Buddah 1-5, 1989
The complete set of five lithographs in colors, on Arches Infinity paper
Each signed and dated in pencil, numbered 87/90

Sotheby’s London: 17 September 2019
Estimated: GBP 18,000 – 22,000
GBP 43,750

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
CHOCOLATE BUDDHA 1-5 (L. PP. 122-125), 1989
The complete portfolio, comprising five lithographs printed in colors
Each signed in pencil, dated, inscribed EC
One of a few exemplaires collaborateurs sets aside from the edition of 90
Also signed and inscribed on the justification page, with the title page and justification