Name: The Story Of Red And Blue 8
Brand: Keith Haring
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Keith Haring’s The Story Of Red And Blue 8, a signed lithograph from 1989, is estimated to be worth between £4,400 and £6,500. This work has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 8%. This is a rare artwork, having been sold 4 times at auction since its initial sale in June 2014. In the last five years, the hammer price has remained steady, with the average return to the seller being £4,399. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 90.

Meaning & Analysis

Taking the format of a children’s story book, The Story Of Red And Blue 8 is a print from Keith Haring’s The Story Of Red And Blue series from 1989. This signed coloured lithograph is a limited edition of 90.

Representative of Haring’s desire to create a visual language that appealed to both children and adults alike, the series is formed of a variety of simplified images reminiscent of children’s fictional characters. Throughout the series Haring limits his colour palette to bright red and blue and renders each image in his distinctive linear style with black rounded lines.

The Story Of Red And Blue 8 features a line drawing of a peacock-like bird without its feathers and its neck formed of bright blue brush strokes. Haring has outlined the image, showing the bird cutting through the frame as it peaks in from the edge. This is a playful and appealing image that is reminiscent of traditional children’s story book illustrations, however throughout the series there seems not to be any cohesive storyline.

Across the first half of the series, each print alternates in colour between red and blue and by the end of the series the two colours appear together in the prints. In each print Haring uses simplified and generic pictograms to produce the effect of a children’s story book without a sensical storyline, where instead the story seems to focus abstractly on the colours red and blue.

Keith Haring was a luminary of the 1980s downtown New York scene. His distinctive visual language pioneered one-line Pop Art drawings and he has been famed for his colourful, playful imagery. Haring's iconic energetic motifs and figures were dedicated to influencing social change, and particularly challenging stigma around the AIDS epidemic. Haring also pushed for the accessibility of art by opening Pop Shops in New York and Japan, selling a range of ephemera starting from as little as 50 cents. Haring's legacy has been cemented in the art-activism scene and is a testament to power of art to inspire social change