HARING, KEITH
1958 Kutztown, PA/USA–1990 New York

Title: Totem.
Date: 1989.
Technique: Wall relief made from concrete.
Measurement: 178 x 53 x 5 cm.
Notation: Signed, dated and verso numbered on plaque.
Publisher: Edition Schellmann, Munich/New York (publisher).


This item is one of seven artist’s proofs in addition to the edition of 25 copies.



Provenance:
- - Private Collection Hessen


Literature:
- Schellmann, Jörg (ed.): Forty are better than one. Edition Schellmann 1969–2009, Ostfildern/New York 2009, cat. no. 14



- Iconic, symbolic imagery rendered in a relief-like style

- Life-size wall installation from the artist’s heyday

- The "Totem" series ranks among Haring’s most significant bodies of work



Haring Between Subculture and Institution

Keith Haring is among the defining artists of American art in the 1980s, developing a distinctive and iconographically condensed visual language out of New York’s subcultural milieu. As a student at the School of Visual Arts, he early on established a clearly contoured, line-based formal vocabulary rooted in repetition, rhythm, and immediate legibility. Today, his works are represented in major international collections, including the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Tate Modern in London.



The Totem Series – Context and Origins

The wall relief Totem (Concrete) from 1989 originates from the Totem series, realized in the late 1980s in collaboration with Edition Schellmann. The present work constitutes the monochrome counterpart to the polychrome wooden totem from the same series. In addition to the two wall reliefs, Haring also realized Totem as a three-part graphic work rendered in black and red (Lot 44).

For the Totem works, Haring drew inspiration from the early visual languages of Indigenous cultures and ancient civilizations. The complete renunciation of color directs the viewer immediately toward the essence of the totem’s visual language. Through simple, clear lines, Haring presents the viewer with central themes of his philosophy of life: love, unity, and spirituality as the fundamental pillars of human existence.



Archaic Symbols and Radical Reduction

The vertically structured, tiered overall form recalls archaic stelae or totemic figures and is divided into several formally interconnected zones. Embedded into the surface are Haring’s characteristic, sharply defined lines: abstracted figures, geometric symbols, and recurring motifs unfolding across the full height of the relief. The precisely executed lines emerge from the concrete in a relief-like manner, lending the surface a clearly structured and rhythmically ordered composition.

The impact of the work arises from the tension between iconic reduction and physical presence. The strict vertical orientation and symmetrical composition generate a sense of cohesion and stability. At the same time, the recurring symbols and lines create a dynamic, pulsating movement that extends throughout the entire height of the work. The title Totem refers to symbolic carriers of collective meaning and underscores the universal legibility of Haring’s visual language.

Created in the years immediately preceding the artist’s death, Totem belongs to a body of works in which Haring consistently translated his visual language into permanent materials and expanded it into three-dimensional space.



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#Keith Haring #Street Art #Comic #Graffiti #USA #Post-War Art #1980s #Figure / Figures #Object #Scultpures.







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