Keith Haring Originals

This collection which has been exhibited in museums both in the US and Europe, features over 250 original works and exhibits including drawings on paper, lithographs, silkscreens, posters and Pop Shop items that illustrate the entire span of Keith Haring’s short but prolific career.

Also featured are original works from graffiti artist LAII (Angel Ortiz), known for his collaborations with Keith Haring. LAII’s career took off in 1980 when Haring, fresh from the Pennsylvania suburbs, came across his ‘Little Angel’ tag on a New York City Street and sought him out to collaborate. Throughout the 80s, the two artists combined their signatures to create murals, sculptures, train paintings and objects.

Keith Haring emerged as the shooting star of the New York art scene in the ‘80s. Becoming world famous almost overnight, his simply drawn figures were soon to be found on watches and cars, T-shirts and shopping bags, turning Haring into one of the best-known artists of his generation.

In 1980, Haring received public attention with his public art in subways. He had found a highly effective medium that allowed him to communicate his work with the wider audience and he created white chalk drawings on the unused advertising panels covered with matte black paper in a subway station. He considered the subways to be his “laboratory”. Between 1980 and 1985, he produced hundreds of these “subway drawings” (two of which are featured in this collection). His signature images included dancing figures, a “radiant baby” (a crawling infant emitting rays of light), a barking dog, a flying saucer, large hearts, and figures with televisions for heads. These graffiti drawings became familiar to New York commuters, who would often stop to engage with the artist. He also attracted the attention of the city authorities which arrested him for vandalism on numerous occasions.

Throughout his brief career, Haring was featured in more than a hundred solo and group exhibitions and produced more than 50 public artworks in cities around the world many of which were created for charities, orphanages, hospitals and children’s day care centers.

LAII’s art can be found in many esteemed private art collections, as well as in the permanent collections of museums such as the Whitney, MoMA, the Guggenheim, and the Louvre, Abu Dhabi. The artist lives and works in New York.

Photograph ©1982 Allan Tannenbaum /

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EXHIBITION MATERIALS

Captions, wall texts.

DISPLAY 

Depending on installation – TBA.

CHARACTERISTICS OF COLLECTION

• Geographic location of storage: U.S.A. (north-east).
• All works are shipped framed as per international museum standards.
• Collection includes the necessary international shipping crates and packing materials ensuring safe ‘nail to nail” transport.
• Collection is comprehensive, covering a substantial part of the artist’s body of work making it capable of serving as a stand-alone exhibition.
• Museum curators are provided with extensive information and may curate the exhibition to their specifications.
• Collection may be expanded or complemented with art from the borrowing museum’s own collections.
• Collection provides endless opportunities for the development of educational programs, which we can assist with.