Executed between 1980 and 1985, Haring transformed the New York City subway stations into his canvas, scrawling his inventive visual vernacular across the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s black paper that was readily pasted over unpaid advertisements. Haring’s energetic mark-making brought life to thousands of panels, making the city itself vibrant for millions during their daily commutes. These subway drawings not only showcased Haring’s artistic genius but also established a symbolic lexicon that became one of the most recognizable and influential legacies of the twentieth century.

Featuring barking dogs, flying saucers, angels, pyramids, dolphins, computers, smiley faces, radiant babies, dancing figures among others, with tactile, white chalk, Haring’s subway drawings were imbued with a primitive code that possessed universal and lasting appeal. Occupying the ubiquitous MTA panels, in a nearly daily occupation, the imagery of Haring’s drawings were initially simple, with variations on the flying saucer theme and the radiating baby, motifs that were both engineered at his seminal creative haunt, Club 57. Following the surprising discovery that his first round of subway drawings in late December 1980 remained mainly intact weeks after execution, Haring’s gesture became further energized, confident and unbridled. Creating nearly thirty or forty drawings in a three-hour shift, without the possibility of erasure or editing, Haring wielded the fragile, temporal chalk with utter precision and boldness.

The subway project established Haring as one of the great creative forces of the 1980s downtown art movement, and achieved his mission of democratizing the art viewing experience. In one of the most expansive and impressive art projects ever conceived in a public setting, the subway drawings demystified the experience of viewing art, by removing what Haring viewed as the intimidating context of galleries and institutions, bringing art directly to the widest audience possible, irrespective of social, political or economic background. Haring’s unrelenting commitment to the subway project wasn’t eclipsed by his meteoric rise to superstar art-world status; having signed with legendary art dealer, Tony Shafrazi, in 1982, which led to planning for his first ever solo exhibition the same year. In turn, the subway drawings were Haring’s lifeline to drawing, which he considered his most significant contribution to the world, and a unifying force for the collective conscience. This body of work thus served as the blueprint for his widely lauded figurative aesthetic, the subway drawings were the very fuel for Haring’s activism.

 

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Top Lots

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#1. Untitled (Subway Drawing), circa 1982-1984

Christie’s New-York: 14 November 2019
Estimated: USD 450,000 – 550,000
USD 1,275,000

Keith Haring (1958-1990), Untitled (Subway Drawing) | Christie’s

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), circa 1982-1984
Chalk on two joined sheets of paper on board, in original aluminum mount
49 x 67-7/8 x 7/8 inches (124.5 x 172.4 x 2.2 cm)

 

 

 

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2025 Auction Results

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2024 Auction Results

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#1. Untitled (Still Alive in ’85), 1985

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 500,000 – 700,000
USD 900,000

Untitled (Still Alive in ’85) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Still Alive in ’85), 1985
Chalk on 3 joined sheets of black paper on original MTA mount
Sheet: 85 x 41 3/4 inches (215.9 x 106 cm)
Mount: 87×45 inches (221.6 x 114.6 cm)

#2. Untitled (Mermaid-Angel and Three Dolphins), 1982

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 350,000 – 450,000
USD 600,000

Untitled (Mermaid-Angel and Three Dolphins) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Mermaid-Angel and Three Dolphins), 1982
Chalk on 3 joined sheets of black paper on original MTA mount
Sheet: 83 1/2 x 41 inches (212.1 x 104.1 cm)
Mount: 85  3/4 x 45 inches (217.8 x  114.3 cm)

#3. Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 500,000 – 700,000
USD 576,000

Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs), circa 1981-83
Chalk on 2 joined sheets of black paper
83 x 42 1/2 inches (210.8 x 108 cm)

#4. Untitled (Boombox Head), 1984

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 400,000 – 600,000
USD 480,000

Untitled (Boombox Head) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Boombox Head), 1984
Chalk on 3 joined sheets of black paper on original MTA mount
Sheet: 83 x 41 3/4 inches (210.8 x 106 cm)
Mount: 87×45 inches (221 x 114.3 cm)

#22. Untitled (Three Figures, 1983), 1983

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 250,000 – 350,000
USD 180,000

Untitled (Three Figures, 1983) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Three Figures, 1983), 1983
Chalk on black paper laid on panel
Sheet: 84×41 inches (213.4 x 104.1 cm)
Panel: 87 1/2 x 47 3/4 inches (222.3 x 121.3 cm)

#23. Untitled (Running Crucifix), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 168,000

Untitled (Running Crucifix) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Running Crucifix), circa 1981-83
Chalk on black paper laid on foam board
66×43 inches (167.8 x 109.2 cm)

#24. Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1985

Sotheby’s New-York: 27 September 2024
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 168,000

Untitled (Subway Drawing) | Contemporary Curated | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1985
Chalk on paper
45×30 inches (114.3 x 76.2 cm)

#25. Untitled (Two Signals), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 156,000

Untitled (Two Signals) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Two Signals), circa 1980-83
Chalk on black paper
45×30 inches (114.3 x 76.2 cm)

#26. Untitled (Three Signals), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 156,000

Untitled (Three Signals) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Three Signals), circa 1981-83
Chalk on black paper
44 3/4 x 33 inches (113.7 x 83.8 cm)

#27. Untitled (Robot with Hotdog), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 156,000

Untitled (Robot with Hotdog) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Robot with Hotdog), circa 1980-83
Chalk on black paper laid on paperboard
44×30 inches (111.8 x 76.2 cm)

 

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2023 Auction Results

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#1. Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1985

Christie’s New-York: 10 November 2023
Estimated: USD 300,00 – 500,000
USD 352,800

KEITH HARING (1958-1990) (christies.com)

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1985
Chalk on black paper
45×60 inches (114.3 x 152.4 cm)
Dated ’85’ (upper left)

#19. Untitled, 1981

Christie’s New-York: 12 May 2023
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 138,600

KEITH HARING (1958-1990), Untitled | Christie’s (christies.com)

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled, 1981
Gold marker on plastic
18 3/4 x 19 3/4 inches (47.6 x 50.2 cm)
Signed and dated ‘K. Haring 81’ (on the reverse)

 

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2022 Auction Results

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#1. Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1982/1984

Ketterer Kunst: 9 December 2022
Estimated: EUR 300,000
EUR 500,000 / USD 527,593

Ketterer Kunst, Art auctions, Book auctions Munich, Hamburg & Berlin

KEITH HARING
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1982/1984.
Chalk drawing on two jointed sheets of black paper laid on cardboard
In the original New York Subway frame made of glass fiber reinforced plastic
41.5 x 59.8 inches (114.8 x 152 cm)

#2. Untitled (Subway Chalk Drawing), 1982

Christie’s New-York: 17 November 2022
Estimated: USD 200,00 – 300,000
USD 264,600

KEITH HARING (1958-1990) (christies.com)

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Chalk Drawing), 1982
Chalk on black paper
45 3/4 x 29 3/4 inches (116.2 x 75.6 cm)

 

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2021 Auction Results

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#1. Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1980s

Tate Ward Auctions: 24 March 2021
Estimated: GBP 35,000 – 45,000
GBP 76,250 / USD 104,609

Lot 190 – Keith Haring (American 1958-1990), ‘Untitled (tateward.com)

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1980s
White chalk on black paper
82 3/8 x 45 7/8 inches (209 x 116 cm)

#39. Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1980s

Tate Ward Auctions: 24 June 2021
Estimated: GBP 35,000 – 45,000
GBP 43,750 / USD 60,831

Lot 210 – Keith Haring (American 1958-1990), ‘Untitled (tateward.com)

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1980s
White chalk on black paper
81 7/8 x 43 1/2 inches (208 x 110.5 cm)

#42. Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1980s

Tate Ward Auctions: 24 June 2021
Estimated: GBP 30,000 – 40,000
GBP 37,500 / USD 52,141

Lot 209 – Keith Haring (American 1958-1990), ‘Untitled (tateward.com)

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1980s
White chalk on black paper
52 3/8 x 65 3/8 inches (133×166 cm)

#43. Subway drawing, 1980s

Artcurial: 5 July 2021
Estimated: EUR 30,000 – 40,000
EUR 40,650 / USD 48,237

Urban & Pop Contemporary | Sale n°4122 | Lot n°203 | Artcurial

KEITH HARING
Subway drawing, 1980s
Chalk on torn black paper
74 7/8 x 39 3/8 inches (190×100 cm)

#44. Life is Fresh!, circa 1980

Tate Ward Auctions: 24 June 2021
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 32,500 / USD 45,189

Lot 208 – Keith Haring (American 1958-1990), ‘Life Is (tateward.com)

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Life Is Fresh!, 1980s
Original subway drawing
White chalk on black paper
39 3/8 x 27 5/8 inches (100×70 cm)

#45. Subway drawing, 1980s

Artcurial: 5 July 2021
Estimated: EUR 20,000 – 30,000
EUR 35,230 / USD 41,806

Urban & Pop Contemporary | Sale n°4122 | Lot n°202 | Artcurial

KEITH HARING
Subway drawing, 1980s
Chalk on torn black paper
42 1/2 x 58 5/8 inches (108×149 cm)

 

 

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Selected Highlights

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Untitled (Subway Drawing), circa 1985

Christie’s New-York: 27 February 2025
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
PASSED

KEITH HARING (1958-1990), Untitled (Subway Drawing) | Christie’s

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), circa 1985
Chalk on black paper laid down on board
Sheet: 41 x 41 1/2 inches (104.1 x 105.4 cm)
Board: 42 7/8 x 43 7/8 inches (108.9 x 111.4 cm)

“There is something very “real” about the subway system and the people who travel in it; perhaps there is not another place in the world where people of such diverse appearance, background, and life-style have intermingled for a common purpose. In this underground environment, one can often feel a sense of oppression and struggle in the vast assortment of faces. It is in this context that an expression of hope and beauty carries the greatest rewards.”

Tseng Kwong Chi, 85′ JANUARY SUBWAY PROJECT. Photo: Tseng Kwong Chi © Muna Tseng Dance Projects Inc.
Artwork: © Keith Haring Foundation. Courtesy of the Tseng Kwong Chi Archives.

 

 

Sotheby’s is honored to present Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh, the most significant group of subway drawings ever to be offered at auction.

 

Untitled (Still Alive in ’85), 1985

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 500,000 – 700,000
USD 900,000

Untitled (Still Alive in ’85) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Still Alive in ’85), 1985
Chalk on 3 joined sheets of black paper on original MTA mount
Sheet: 85 x 41 3/4 inches (215.9 x 106 cm)
Mount: 87×45 inches (221.6 x 114.6 cm)

Executed in 1985, the final year of his historic series of subway drawings, Still Alive in 85 showcases Haring at the pinnacle of his creative prowess. Testament to the significance of the present work within Haring’s acclaimed corpus of work, Still Alive in ’85 has been included in several of his most esteemed exhibitions, including Allegories of Modernism: Contemporary Drawing at the Museum of Modern Art, New York in 1992 and Keith Haring: The Political Line, a major international retrospective which traveled to the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the de Young Museum in San Francisco, the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung in Munich and Kunsthal Rotterdam from April 2013 to February 2016. Further bolstering to its singular importance within Haring’s career, Still Alive in 85 was featured in Keith Haring: Future Primeval, the first major survey in the United States dedicated to the artist’s work that was initiated during Haring’s lifetime. Solidifying its place among the very best of his subway drawings, Still Alive in 85, was used as the promotional image in the advertising posters for the exhibition highlighting the work’s critical role in shaping Haring’s legacy.

The present work illustrated on the exhibition poster for Future Primeval at the Queens Museum, 1990

Brimming with movement, energy, and frenetic gesture, Still Alive in 85 elegantly balances Haring’s unbridled artistic genius, embodying a vibrant narrative across its expansive scale. The present work pulses with life force, showcasing Haring’s ability to capture the essence of urban existence while simultaneously exuding a sense of harmony and order, and is notably from the last group of subway drawings Haring created. From the intertwined spirits and soaring angels to dancing figures with boomboxes for heads, crawling babies, and barking dogs, the imagery bursts forth from the central figure, whose head, sliced open, reveals the inner workings of the collective conscience and that of the artist. Presenting a visual encyclopedia of Haring’s most iconic symbols, Still Alive in 85 overflows with energy while remaining neatly contained within the crisp, bold lines of white chalk, creating a striking visual impact that is dynamically rendered across the vast surface.

Rendered on the largest scale for the subway drawings, Still Alive in 85 embodies his fullest semiotic potential, integrating the most significant icons of his oeuvre to create a powerful, vibrant statement about life and resilience amidst turbulent political and social times. Executed between 1980 and 1985, Haring transformed the New York City subway stations into his canvas, scrawling his inventive visual vernacular across the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s black paper that was readily pasted over unpaid advertisements. Haring’s energetic mark-making brought life to thousands of panels, making the city itself vibrant for millions during their daily commutes. These subway drawings not only showcased Haring’s artistic genius but also established a symbolic lexicon that became one of the most recognizable and influential legacies of the twentieth century.

Still Alive in 85 was created during an era marked by deepening social and economic inequalities, and stands as a powerful critique of the rapidly evolving political landscape that characterized New York City at the time of its conception. From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, New York underwent significant political changes, driven by President Ronald Reagan’s policies. Utilizing his creative forces for activism, Haring expressed his frustration with Reagan’s politics during his first term, creating a series of provocative newspaper collages made from copies of the New York Post, with titles such as “Reagan: Ready to Kill” and “Ronald Reagan Accused of TV Star Sex Death: Killed & ate lover,” in an effort to highlight Reagan’s cult of personality. Perhaps most threatening to Haring was the looming HIV and AIDS epidemic devastating the city, which the Reagan administration largely disregarded until 1987, six years after the earliest reported cases, and several after Haring himself began to exhibit symptoms. Created shortly after his re-election in 1984, Still Alive in 85, traces Haring’s sustained involvement in political commentary and nimble creative responses to the world around him. A powerful emblem of endurance and resilience amidst the turmoil of the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the socio-political upheaval of the 1980s, Still Alive in 85 serves as a poignant reminder of strength in the face of unimaginable loss—a rallying cry to persevere and continue fighting against oppressive authority.

Jenny Holzer, Sign on a Truck, 1984, installed at Grand Army Plaza, New York.
Art © 1984 Jenny Holzer, member Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY. Photo: Kevin Noble.

The historical significance of Still Alive in 85, is further elevated by its profoundly creative and storied narrative lineage. The impetus for the text scrawled across the upper register of the vast surface ‘STILL ALIVE IN 85’, was a direct creative counterpoint to Jenny Holzer’s own Reagan inspired installation, Sign on a Truck. In the lead-up to the presidential election in 1984, Holzer rented a large truck equipped with a billboard-sized TV screen with the text ‘YOU WANT TO LIVE’ emblazoned across it, encouraging passerby to reflect on the future of America’s democracy under Reagan’s leadership. Following Reagan’s re-election later that year, Haring created the present work, a testament to the intensive collaborative creative forces in the downtown 1980s contemporary art movement, and the vitality of the subway drawings as the conduit to Haring’s artistic conscience. Still Alive in 85 is thus not only a bold statement that symbolizes Haring’s direct engagement with power politics, the present work acts as a mirror to societal concerns, and Haring’s genius infusion of contemporaneous subject matter within his potent and powerful visual language.

Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 500,000 – 700,000
USD 576,000

Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs), circa 1981-83
Chalk on 2 joined sheets of black paper
83 x 42 1/2 inches (210.8 x 108 cm)

Keith Haring Foundation

Untitled | Keith Haring

A compelling multipart epic narrative unfolds across two scenes in Haring’s monumental Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs). Executed circa 1981-83 and rendered on one of the largest scale of the subway drawings, the present work stands as one of the most compositionally complex and dynamic drawings created by the artist. Its exceptional composition has garnered recognition from curators around the globe, securing a distinguished place in Haring’s most significant exhibitions. Notable among these is the Future Primeval exhibition at the Queens Museum, organized during Haring’s lifetime and presented posthumously, alongside the acclaimed exhibition Keith Haring that toured prestigious venues such as Castello di Rivoli, Malmö Konsthall, Deichtorhallen, and the Tel Aviv Museum of Art from 1994 to 1995.

Scrawled in utterly crisp detail across two replete registers in Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs), a radiant figure resembling a mermaid-angel hovers above a body of water, arms outstretched, radiating energy to two dolphins, emerging from the water, calling to the celestial figure hovering above them. In the lower field, two flying angels circulate above a crackling, open fire, flanked by two barking dogs. Here, the fire serves as a potent symbol of chaos and transformation, signaling regeneration, creation and rebirth. For Haring, angels were an enduring symbol of good in the battle against evil. The barking dog was among Haring’s first symbols premiered in the subway, an iconic motif, highlighting the power of human and animal instincts. Together, these scenes encapsulate the dualities of existence, the cycle of life and Haring’s enduring message of humanism. This interplay invites viewers to reflect on resilience in the face of adversity, underscoring Haring’s belief in the transformative power of love and community. Ultimately, the present work is a nuanced meditation on the complexities of human experience, the need for connection, and the persistent quest for hope in turbulent times.

Executed between 1980 and 1985, Haring transformed the New York City subway stations into his canvas, scrawling his inventive visual vernacular across the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s black paper that was readily pasted over unpaid advertisements. Featuring barking dogs, flying saucers, angels, pyramids, dolphins, computers, smiley faces, radiant babies, dancing figures among others, with tactile, white chalk, Haring’s energetic mark-making brought life to thousands of panels, making the city itself vibrant for millions during their daily commutes. These subway drawings not only showcased Haring’s artistic genius but also established a symbolic lexicon that became one of the most recognizable and influential legacies of the twentieth century.

The present work installed in Keith Haring: 1978-1982 at the Brooklyn Museum, March – July 2012.

Although Haring’s visual vocabulary was initially established in the subway drawings, the key iconography present in Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs), found deeper meaning during Haring’s meteoric artistic evolution. The enchanting fish-tailed angel, featured prominently at the upper center of the composition in the present work, is one such example. First developed in the subways in 1982, the mermaid-angel originally arose organically: “What happened, really, was that the drawing grew out of an evolution of other images, of the dolphins, of the angels, and sort of combined and turned into this sort of dolphin-mermaid-angel” (the artist quoted in an interview with Robert Farris Thompson for the BBC, 10 November 1988). During Haring’s frequent visits in the mid-1980s to his longtime friend and creative collaborator Kenny Scharf’s home in Brazil, this iconic symbol found additional emblematic resonance. It was while decorating the homes and boats of local fishermen in the community that Haring learned of the angelic mermaid and Brazilian deity, Yemanjá, who symbolizes abundance and offers protection during storms at sea. Imbued with the sentiments of his own lived experience, the radical visual language in the present work served as the apex of Haring’s profound aesthetic development.

Keith Haring in Bahia in 1980

The incredible rarity of Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs) and this suite of thirty-one subway drawings thus cannot be overstated, as Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh, is one of the most exceptional and extensive collections of subway drawings in existence. The importance of these subway drawings was identified by the prescient eye of contemporary art collector and publisher, Larry Warsh. The preeminent foresight identified the subway drawings as the most critical body of work by the artist that required institutional contextualization. Utterly enchanting, Untitled (Mermaid-Angel, Dolphins, Angels, Barking Dogs), is an exceptionally impressive example from Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh. The present work encapsulates Haring’s most identifiable iconography on an impressive scale, and features an extensive exhibition history from acclaimed institutions worldwide.

Untitled (Boombox Head), 1984

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 400,000 – 600,000
USD 480,000

Untitled (Boombox Head) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Boombox Head), 1984
Chalk on 3 joined sheets of black paper on original MTA mount
Sheet: 83 x 41 3/4 inches (210.8 x 106 cm)
Mount: 87×45 inches (221 x 114.3 cm)

A monumental figure with a boombox as its head exuberantly dances across the vast surface of Keith Haring’s Untitled (Boombox Head) from 1984, an inimitable example from the artist’s rarified corpus of subway drawings. Poised atop the boombox, a smaller figure performs a breakdancing move, enhancing the work’s dynamic sense of movement and rhythm. Featuring some of Haring’s most iconic symbols at the largest scale in this series, Untitled (Boombox) embodies the confluence of art, music, and dance that characterized the cultural landscape of downtown New York in the 1980s. Rendered in crisp white chalk, the present work radiates a lighthearted spirit, inviting viewers to revel in the sheer exuberance of its subject and immerse themselves in the electric energy of the era.

Executed between 1980 and 1985, Haring transformed the New York City subway stations into his canvas, scrawling his inventive visual vernacular across the Metropolitan Transit Authority’s black paper that was readily pasted over unpaid advertisements. Featuring barking dogs, flying saucers, angels, pyramids, dolphins, computers, smiley faces, radiant babies, dancing figures among others, with tactile, white chalk, Haring’s energetic mark-making brought life to thousands of panels, making the city itself vibrant for millions during their daily commutes. These subway drawings not only showcased Haring’s artistic genius but also established a symbolic lexicon that became one of the most recognizable and influential legacies of the twentieth century. Haring, like his contemporaries Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, sought to narrate the modern age through his art. Arriving in New York City in 1978, Haring was immediately drawn to the urban music and graffiti scene. Music and the urban culture surrounding it proved to be a major source of inspiration for the artist early on.

“All kinds of new things were starting. In music, it was the punk and New Wave scenes… And there was the club scene – the Mudd Club and Club 57, at St. Mark’s Place, in the basement of a Polish church, which became our hangout, a clubhouse, where we could do whatever we wanted.” 

The present work installed in Keith Haring: 1978-1982 at the Brooklyn Museum, March – July 2012.

While it was the clubs and dance halls of New York that informed the content and evolution of Haring’s visual language, it was the subway that empowered him to communicate it. According to Haring, there was no better place to broadcast the exciting developments of the era than in the highly trafficked networks of the subway.

“1983, 1984, it was almost like a dialogue going on, back and forth, and the subways were a way to continue the dialogue and put [out] images which I would get sometimes specifically from dance moves that I saw. . . you know, [persons who would] bend over backwards [to the floor] or somebody going underneath [in the moves called the bridge and the spider], things that I was seeing in dances and literally putting them right into the work – they knew, when they saw it, right away what it was” 

A timeless performance etched in bold white lines, Untitled (Boombox) reflects the city as Haring saw it and as everyone experienced it.

Indeed, the musical essence which foregrounds Untitled (Boombox) and much of Haring’s work mirrors his dynamic artistic practice. Captivated by the idea of gesture, Haring believed, “the essence of [his] work rests in the concept of the ‘gesture’ and the ‘spirit of the line’ to express individuality.” (Keith Haring, Journals, New York 1996, p. 220). For Haring, the act of creation became a sort of a ritual or performance. As Jeffrey Deitch astutely observed, “While [Haring] paints with intense concentration… advanced dance music permeates the air, sounding from an immense boom-box. He seldom works without music, and not only Haring, but the figures he’s painting seem to rock to the beat. . . . Like a master rapper who can rhyme line after line in a never-ending cadence, Haring keeps unfolding his images with a visual syncopation” (Jeffrey Deitch, The Radioactive Child, Keith Haring, Amsterdam: Reproductie Asdeling, Stedelijk Museum, 1986, p. 11.). With each work serving as a vivid trace of sound intertwined with unique movement, Haring’s Untitled (Boombox Head), reaches beyond the visual, resonating with the rhythm of life itself.

The immense rarity of Untitled (Boombox Head) is further underscored by its rich exhibition history at prominent international institutions. Untitled (Boombox Head) was featured in Keith Haring Journey of the Radiant Baby at the Reading Public Museum in 2006, and the critical exhibition Keith Haring – The Political Line, which traveled from the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, the de Young Museum, the Kunsthalle der Hypo-Kulturstiftung and Kunsthal Rotterdam from 2013-16. Untitled (Boombox Head) was also included in the critically acclaimed exhibition Keith Haring Jean-Michel Basquiat | Crossing Lines at the National gallery of Victoria in 2019-20. The illustrious institutional contextualization of Untitled (Boombox Head) befits the unparalleled strength of its composition, instantly identifiable iconography, and embodiment of the spirit of Haring at his best.

 

Untitled (Two Pregnant Figures and Radiant Baby), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 240,000

Untitled (Two Pregnant Figures and Radiant Baby) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Two Pregnant Figures and Radiant Baby), circa 1980-83
Chalk on black paper laid on foam board
53 3/4 x 41 inches (136.5 x 104.1 cm)

“Robert Farris Thompson characterizes the famous “radiant baby,” as Haring’s “stabilizing themes.” The idea of the baby developed originally from the drawing of a human crawling forward: “Babies represent the possibility of the future, the understanding of perfection, how perfect we could be. There is nothing negative about a baby, ever. The reason that the ‘baby’ has become my logo or signature is that it is the purest and most positive experience of human existence.” Or as Jeffrey Deitch puts it: “The stubby crawling baby, for instance, reads not just ‘baby’, but as such things as human vulnerability, a sense of unfettered freedom associated with a baby’s developing consciousness, and a polymorphous sexuality.”

Untitled (Breakdancers and TV), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 420,000

Untitled (Breakdancers and TV) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Breakdancers and TV), circa 1981-83
Chalk on 2 joined sheets of black paper
44 1/2 x 30 inches (113 x 76.2 cm)

Untitled (Signal), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 80,000 – 120,000
USD 114,000

Untitled (Signal) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Signal), circa 1980-83
Chalk on black paper
45 1/4 x 28 1/2 inches (114.9 x 72.4 cm)

“In 1980, I returned to drawing with a new commitment to purpose and reality. If I was going to draw, there had to be a reason. That reason, I decided, was for people. The only way art lives is through the experience of the observer. The reality of art begins in the eyes of the beholder and gains power through imagination, invention, and confrontation.”

Untitled (Robot with Hotdog), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 156,000

Untitled (Robot with Hotdog) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Robot with Hotdog), circa 1980-83
Chalk on black paper laid on paperboard
44×30 inches (111.8 x 76.2 cm)

“The drawings are designed to provoke people to think and use their own imagination. They don’t have exact definitions but challenge the viewer to assert his or her own ideas and interpretation. Sometimes, people find this uncomfortable, especially because the drawings are ina space usually reserved for advertisements which tell you exactly what to think. Sometimes the advertisements on the side of the empty panels provide inspiration for the drawings and often create ironic associations.”

Untitled (Merry Christmas N.Y.C. with Radiant Baby), 1985

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 228,000

Untitled (Merry Christmas N.Y.C. with Radiant Baby) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Merry Christmas N.Y.C. with Radiant Baby), 1985
Chalk on black paper on original MTA mount
Sheet: 45×30 inches (104.1 x 76.2 cm)

Untitled (Mermaid-Angel and Three Dolphins), 1982

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 350,000 – 450,000
USD 600,000

Untitled (Mermaid-Angel and Three Dolphins) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Mermaid-Angel and Three Dolphins), 1982
Chalk on 3 joined sheets of black paper on original MTA mount
Sheet: 83 1/2 x 41 inches (212.1 x 104.1 cm)
Mount: 85  3/4 x 45 inches (217.8 x  114.3 cm)

“One of Keith’s ideographs somehow captures his art and his aspiration. I refer to the fish-tailed image of Yemanjá, the Yoruba-Brazilian mermaid goddess of the seas. Keith developed this striking image in the subway drawings in 1982: ‘What happened, really, was that the drawing grew out of an evolution of other images, of the dolphins, of the angels, and sort of combined and turned into this sort of dolphin-mermaid-angel. ”

Untitled (Two Pyramids and Flying Saucer), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 384,000

Untitled (Two Pyramids and Flying Saucer) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Two Pyramids and Flying Saucer), circa 1981-83
Chalk on black paper
45 x 29 1/2 inches (114.3 x 74.9 cm)

“The pyramids symbolize ancient times and energy as well as inconceivable cultural achievements of humankind; they reflect Haring’s interest in hieroglyphs and his critical engagement with slave labor, social injustice, and inhumanity”

Untitled (Two Angels and Barking Dogs), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 300,000

Untitled (Two Angels and Barking Dogs) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Two Angels and Barking Dogs), circa 1981-83
Chalk on black paper laid on linen
Sheet: 45×30 inches (114.3 x 76.2 cm)
Linen: 47×32 inches (119.4 x 81.3 cm)

Untitled (Running Crucifix), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 168,000

Untitled (Running Crucifix) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Running Crucifix), circa 1981-83
Chalk on black paper laid on foam board
66×43 inches (167.8 x 109.2 cm)

“I have been drawing in the subway for three years now, and although my career aboveground has skyrocketed, the subway is still my favorite place to draw. There is something very “real” about the subway system and the people who travel in it; perhaps there is not another place in the world where people of such diverse appearance, background, and life-style have intermingled for a common purpose. In this underground environment, one can often feel a sense of oppression and struggle in the vast assortment of faces. It is in this context that an expression of hope and beauty carries the greatest rewards”.

Untitled (Figures Lifting Pyramids), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 300,000

Untitled (Figures Lifting Pyramids) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Figures Lifting Pyramids), circa 1980-83
Chalk on black paper
44 1/2 x 29 inches (113 x 73.7 cm)

Untitled (Three-Eyed Smiley Face), circa 1982-85

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 192,000

Untitled (Three-Eyed Smiley Face) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Three-Eyed Smiley Face), circa 1982-85
Chalk on black paper
44 x 27 1/2 inches (111.8 x 69.8 cm)

“Keith Haring has developed his own language, which speaks to us with immediacy in a deeply preverbal sense. Each term in this language can be read as subject, verb, or object: the Dog Barks the Spacecraft or the Spacecraft Zaps the Praying Man. In much the same way as Chinese or Egyptian languages are written pictographically, Keith Haring’s world is made up of symbols that speak urgently to us, both alone and in interchangeable configurations. And as the pictographs or hieroglyphs communicate visually, soundlessly, so too are Haring’s symbols swathed in silence. An eerie quietude surrounds all his work, heightening and animating the dramas they depict”.

Untitled (Two Figures and Clock), circa 1981-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 204,000

Untitled (Two Figures and Clock) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Two Figures and Clock), circa 1981-83
Chalk on black paper laid on paperboard
44 3/4 x 29 inches (108.6 x 73.7 cm)

Untitled (Caterpillar), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 360,000

Untitled (Caterpillar) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Caterpillar), circa 1980-83
Chalk on black paper
32×42 inches (81.3 x 106.7 cm)

“The caterpillar is the actual feeding stage of the butterfly and has to shed its skin several times before achieving its final size. Only after metamorphosis does it transform into the butterfly, whose beauty serves the purpose of procreation alone, and then afterwards fades. Thus, the caterpillar symbolizes both transformation and metamorphosis as well as a craving for food and greed, which is why it resembles a monster in a series of depictions. With a computer substituting for its head, the caterpillar turns into a human-slaughtering ogre. Similar to James Cameron’s 1984 science fiction movie Terminator, in which Arnold Schwarzenegger plays a murderous android from the future, Haring sees an acute danger in machines possibly meaning the end of humanity.”

Untitled (Spotted Breakdancer and Three Barking Dogs), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 126,000

Untitled (Spotted Breakdancer and Three Barking Dogs) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Spotted Breakdancer and Three Barking Dogs), circa 1980-83
Chalk on black paper
34 1/2 x 30 inches (87.6 x 76.2 cm)

“The images are part of the collective consciousness of modern man. Sometimes they stem from world events, sometimes from ideas about technology or people changing roles in relation to God and evolution. All of the drawings use images that universally “readable”. They are are often inspired by popular culture. The drawings are designed to provoke people to think and use their own imagination.”

Untitled (Breakdancers and Barking Dog), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 348,000

Untitled (Breakdancers and Barking Dog) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Breakdancers and Barking Dog), circa 1980-83
Chalk on 2 joined sheets of black paper
43×42 inches (109.2 x 107 cm)

“While [Haring] paints with intense concentration…advanced dance music permeates the air, sounding from an immense boom-box. He seldom works without music, and not only Haring, but the figures he’s painting seem to rock to the beat. . . . Like a master rapper who can rhyme line after line in a never-ending cadence, Haring keeps unfolding his images with a visual syncopation”

Untitled (Pyramid and Flying Saucer), circa 1982-85

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 300,000
USD 312,000

Untitled (Pyramid and Flying Saucer) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Pyramid and Flying Saucer), circa 1982-85
Chalk on black paper laid on linen
Sheet: 45×30 inches (114.3 x 76.2 cm)
Linen: 47×32 inches (119.4 x 81.3 cm)

“ The flying saucer symbolizes space, space travel, and communication. It is also a symbol of otherness and can describe any person who lies outside of the social norm and community. In Haring’s work strength emanates from these outsiders, for they have the power to activate and empower others.”

Untitled (Medusa Head), circa 1980-83

Untitled (Two Figures Tied Together), circa 1980-83

Art in Transit: 31 Subway Drawings by Keith Haring, From the Collection of Larry Warsh
Sotheby’s New-York: 21 November 2024
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 132,000

Untitled (Two Figures Tied Together) | Contemporary Day Auction | 2024 | Sotheby’s

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Two Figures Tied Together), circa 1980-83
Chalk on 2 joined sheets of black paper
40 1/2 x 42 inches (102.9 x 106.7 cm)

“The advertisements that fill every subway panel that this was the perfect situation. The advertisements that fill every subway platform are changed periodically. When there aren’t enough new ads, a black paper panel is substituted. I remember noticing a panel in the Times Square station and immediately going aboveground and buying chalk. After the first drawing, things just fell into place. I began drawing in the subways as a hobby on my way to work.”

 

 

Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1985

Sotheby’s New-York: 27 September 2024
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 150,000
USD 168,000

Untitled (Subway Drawing) | Contemporary Curated | 2024 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

KEITH HARING (1958 – 1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1985
Chalk on paper
45×30 inches (114.3 x 76.2 cm)

Like his contemporary compatriots Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, Keith Haring was driven by a deep-rooted personal desire to serve as a narrator of the modern age. Haring’s deceptively “naïve” symbolic language became the activist compelling vocabulary through which he sought to impart political impact. Synergizing the tabulated code of graffiti, Haring positions himself as the artist-provocateur—connecting with a public audience on issues such as AIDS, drug abuse, racism, mass-media, ecological preservation, or nuclear technology.

The present work as captured by Tseng Kwon Chi in the New York City subway. Tseng Kwon Chi, Keith Haring subway drawing, New York,1985. Image © Muna Tseng Dance Projects Inc, Art © 2024 Keith Haring Foundation.

Throughout his tragically short career, Haring was an particularly adamant activist for AIDS-related causes. Being diagnosed himself in 1987 and having watched many friends and members of his community succumb to the disease in years prior, Haring played a significant role in bringing awareness about the disease and promoting safe sex to help prevent more deaths from happening.

“The whole beauty of the drawings is that they were so simple. They told a story that you could see from a moving train and you could get it.”

Keith Haring, Art Attack on AIDS, 1988. Private Collection. Art © 2024 The Keith Haring Foundation.

The present work is the earliest known iteration of the imagery Keith Haring would later reuse when collaborating with Tony Shafrazi and Leo Castelli for the “Art Attack on AIDS” initiative, brining together various members of the art world to raise funds for AIDS-related research and public services. Executed in 1985, the last year that Haring would create subway drawings, it reflects powerful, dynamic imagery through the exchange of two figures whose fists make holes through the other. For Haring, this was a direct reflection on the absence of the many individuals who succumbed to the disease as well as the irrevocable wounds imparted on their communities.

 

Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1984

Christie’s New-York: 18 May 2023
Estimated: USD 150,00 – 200,000
USD 107,100

KEITH HARING (1958-1990) (christies.com)

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1984
Chalk on black paper
42 1/4 x 28 inches (107.3 x 71.1 cm)

Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1982/1984

Ketterer Kunst: 9 December 2022
Estimated: EUR 300,000
EUR 500,000 / USD 527,593

Ketterer Kunst, Art auctions, Book auctions Munich, Hamburg & Berlin

KEITH HARING
Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1982/1984.
Chalk drawing on two jointed sheets of black paper laid on cardboard
In the original New York Subway frame made of glass fiber reinforced plastic
41.5 x 59.8 inches (114.8 x 152 cm)

More than forty years have passed since a 22-year-old Keith Haring created his first chalk drawings on the matte black paper that covered expired advertisement panels in NYC subway stations. Done right in front of mystified commuters, often at peak hours, these drawings comprised a heroic, Uncommissioned public art project of a scale and duration that New Yorkers had never seen before and are unlikely to see again. Of the estimated five to six thousand subway drawings Haring did from January 1981 through 1985 – with sporadic forays later in the 80s – very few are known to have survived intact. Haring never intended the subway drawings to be exhibited above ground.

“In its pure philosophical statement, definitely the most important thing I ever did.”

For Haring, the medium of chalk was “clean, economical, fast.” (Interview with Barry Blinderman, July 1981, first published as “Keith Haring’s Subterranean Signatures”, Arts Magazine, Sept. 1981), affording him quick entry and exit from the dozens of favorite stopping-points along his miles-long subterranean studio. The speed at which he worked to avoid getting caught by MTA authorities honed his ability to strip drawing down to its essentials, conveying his multivalent messages with telegraphic clarity. The subway drawings provided Haring with a literal blackboard for developing new symbols and transforming earlier ones into myriad variations on universal themes. With his fluid line, he imbued his repertoire of figures, pyramids, animals, flying saucers, and mythical hybrid beings with frenetic energy and mystery.

Haring’s clock-headed figures first appeared in 1982, a year after he made his first subway drawings. They remained prominent through 1983. Two Tseng Kwong Chi photographs in the 1984 Art in Transit book lend support to this date range but by no means pinpoint when other similar drawings might have been made. In one photo, a drawing of a clock-head spinning a globe is flanked by posters advertising the Broadway musicals Dreamgirls and Cats. Cats opened on Broadway on October 7, 1982, thereby establishing that the drawing was done in 1982 or after. In the second photograph, a two-tiered drawing of a flying clock-head atop a running clock-head appears to the left of advertisements for the musicals A Chorus Line and Evita (fig.). Evita closed on Broadway on June 26, 1983, so that drawing was done no later than 1983. Finally, the Lucio Amelio book published in 1983 reproduces two ink drawings of clock-heads that Haring made in Naples for his exhibition in 1983 (fig.). Untitled could therefore be dated as either 1982 or 1983.

Although there are depictions of timepieces in art from the 17th century onward – most notably in Dutch genre painting and in Dali’s “The Persistence of Memory” Haring may have been the first artist to create a chimerical figure with the head of a clock. His hybrid figure predates Laurie Simmons’ “Walking Pocket Watch”, ca. 1990, a photomontage of an oversized timepiece resting atop the lower half of a woman’s figure, by around seven years (fig.). It seems inevitable in retrospect that Haring’s ever-shifting and recombined symbols would yield a running figure with a timepiece as a head, particularly considering the context – thousands of people running late, rushing to catch trains or to exit the station. For Haring there was never a sense of stasis, either in his life or art. Tall and wiry, he had a sprinter’s focus and physique. He created countless works of art in a tragically brief career, with an urgency fueled not only by his restless imagination, but also by his premonition of an early death. In a journal entry from March 20, 1987, he remarked: “I always knew, since I was young, that I would die young .. I live every day as if it were the last .” (Keith Haring, Journals, New York 1996, p.75-76).
The Timex Corporation’s famous slogan, “It takes a licking and keeps on ticking”, is especially applicable to “Untitled (Twin Clock-headed Figures)”, in which both timepieces bear the Timex logo (Just as Haring appropriated a wristwatch brand name in several of his Clock Head drawings, in spring 1985, he returned the favor, permitting his own copyrighted image of a winged two-legged clock to adorn the face of the Blanc Sur Noir wristwatch by Swatch, fig.). Haring’s work has indeed “[kept] on ticking” throughout the three decades since his death, sustaining his intention to bequeath to us a timeless art with mass appeal. On the other hand, as the artist’s quote above suggests, the clock-headed figures function also as contemporary memento moris, reminders of the brevity of our existence; the drawing’s universality notwithstanding, one cannot help but envision “Untitled’s” frenetic figures as self-portraits of an artist who knew, several years before he was diagnosed as HIV-positive, that he was racing against time.

Untitled (Subway Drawing), circa 1982-1984

Christie’s New-York: 14 November 2019
Estimated: USD 450,000 – 550,000
USD 1,275,000

Keith Haring (1958-1990), Untitled (Subway Drawing) | Christie’s

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Untitled (Subway Drawing), circa 1982-1984
Chalk on two joined sheets of paper on board, in original aluminum mount
49 x 67-7/8 x 7/8 inches (124.5 x 172.4 x 2.2 cm)

“The whole beauty of the drawings is that they were so simple. They told a story that you could see from a moving train and you could get it.”

Keith Haring’s iconic visual vernacular, dynamically illustrated in Untitled (Subway Drawing), established him as an important American muralist and graffiti artist of the 20th century. The work belongs to Haring’s legendary Subway Drawing series of crisp white chalk drawings on the matte black paper that was pasted over expired advertisements in the New York City subway stations. Created at the height of Haring’s career, Untitled (Subway Drawing) is an exceptional work, as it remains mounted in the original aluminum subway station advertisement frame. Haring imbued social and political meaning though the drawn figures’ relationship to one another. Here, two stylized figures run and dance towards each other, their stretched out reaching arms encircled by a radiating heart. Depicting the fundamental message of devout humanism and love, Haring’s genderless and race-less figures race to each other, captured moments before an embrace. He once described: “The whole beauty of the drawings is that they were so simple. They told a story that you could see from a moving train and you could get it.” (K. Haring, quoted in J. Deitch, Keith Haring, New York, 2008, p. 105). The entire work is staged in a frame of white chalk lining the perimeter of the sheet, referencing the television screen and the comic strip box, which came to define the decade. As Haring’s Subway Drawings quickly became a New York City phenomenon, he rose to international fame with a signature style that the entire city was following.
Growing up in the 1960s, Haring’s art and political beliefs were shaped by the radical politics of the decade and Vietnam war. He believed the job of an artist was to be a provocateur that spoke against the inequity and injustice of society, organized power, religion, and political structures. These activist ideas were relayed not only in Haring’s art, but also in his artistic process and method. While in art school in New York City, Haring pasted headlines of newspapers as urban statements in public places in order to reach a diverse audiences. With his call of ‘art for everyone,’ Haring believed that art should not be reserved in museums and galleries for the elite and created artworks in non-traditional places. He sought “a more holistic and basic idea of wanting to incorporate [art] into every part of life, less as an egotistical exercise and more natural somehow. I don’t know how to exactly explain it. Taking it off the pedestal. I’m giving it back to the people, I guess” (K. Haring, quoted in D. Drenger, “Art and Life: An Interview with Keith Haring,” in Columbia Art Review, Spring 1988, p. 53).
Using the public environment as a platform for his art to reach people on a greater scale, Haring took his rebel pastings to the next level with his iconic Subway Drawings. The pivotal series used the subway as a laboratory of communication and engagement. Between 1980 and 1985, Haring created several hundreds of billboards in New York subway stations – an ideal platform that made his art accessible and participatory, as well as rally a generation to change policies and tackle social ills for a better future with his stylized vernacular.
Unveiled at the Galerie Nikolaus Sonne in 1990 shortly after its creation circa 1982-1984, Untitled (Subway Drawing) is an outstanding example of Haring’s guerilla drawings. In the New York subway systems, expired advertisements were covered with empty black sheets of paper, awaiting their next poster. Haring serendipitously began this endeavor when he noticed a black panel in the Times Square subway station, and thought “it was the perfect surface waiting” (K. Haring, quoted in J. Deitch, Keith Haring, New York, 2008, p. 104). Seizing these blank slates with a soft matted quality as backgrounds, he drew on them with chalk for their crisp effect. Haring used the vocabulary of his identifiable symbols that granted him international and commercial success, such as radiant baby, the barking dog, the hovering angel, the flying saucer, among others, to capture the imaginations of New Yorkers.
Haring completed the drawings before bustling New York commuters, and often interrupted his ride and exited a subway car to draw on a blank paper posted on the station platform. Many times, Haring made up to 40 drawings a day. When the images were not cut and torn from the aluminum mount by admirers, another black paper was eventually layered over them as a base for an advertisement poster. The routine disappearance of these works gave Haring incentive to replenish them. As a result, most of the Subway Drawings were unrecorded, becoming perhaps the most epic ephemeral project that took place in the New York underground.
The 1980s was the peak of the underground graffiti street culture in New York, a period when artists moved beyond making art on traditional canvas to just about anything, including subway cars and building facades. Haring arrived to New York City as a young artist during these years, appropriating the language of graffiti as a method of artistic expression. He quickly joined the city’s graffiti and alternative art community that included Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Sharf, and Futura 2000, artists who worked outside the restrictions and elitism of galleries and museums. While he never identified himself as a graffiti artist, Haring was caught and fined numerous times for vandalism and defacing public property while making works such as Untitled (Subway Drawing). But like graffiti, the repetitive and permutation of Haring’s expressive signs conflate studio practice, street art, Pop art, public art and cartoons to address social change and universal themes on a plane that is both multilayered yet readily understandable.