Untitled 1985
Signed Print

Haring depicts these figures in blue, red, pink and green, outlined with thick, black lines and set against a vivid yellow backdrop. Typical of Haring’s figurative style, rounded lines are used to create a sense of energy and movement in the print, as though these figures are dancing or working with one another.

Pre-empting works like the artist’s Growing series (1988), Haring’s print strikes a balance between pattern and figuration in such a way that recalls the art of Australian Aborigines, something that the artist claimed to be unaware of. This sense of pattern across the image surface is emphasised by the symmetrical composition and the way in which Haring fits the figures together in a complex interconnected system.

Haring makes clear his views that working together and forming a community can be more powerful than working alone by showing a number of figures stemming from the single individual in a complex interconnected system. The figures in Untitled 1985 could also be said to be break dancing, something that Haring became very interested in as a means to communicate joy and togetherness.