Sotheby’s will bring to auction the esteemed collection of No More Rulers founder Larry Warsh. Included as part of the Contemporary Art Day Auction in New York will be a series of Subway Drawings created by legendary Pop artist Keith Haring. As the title implies, Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh comprises of a group of works created by the American artist between 1980-85, appearing at auction for the first time and coming in with a combined estimate of $6.3 to 9m USD.
Accessibility was a hallmark to Haring’s practice, favoring the surfaces found in the city streets, as opposed to the confines of a canvas. In the 1980s, the American artist quickly transformed New York’s subways, adding his vibrant lexicon over advertisements as a way to enliven commuters daily journeys. “I remember noticing a panel in the Times Square station and immediately going aboveground and buying chalk,” Haring recalled. “After the first drawing things just fell into place. I began drawing on the subways as a hobby on my way to work. I had to ride the subways often and would do a drawing while waiting for a train.”
Straddling the lines between comics, graffiti and fine art, Haring was amongst the street artists that challenged the “seriousness” of accepted art norms within painting and sculpture, in favor of a universally understandable visual style of radiant babies, dancing figures and flying saucers. “Keith Haring’s subway drawings are his ultimate, years-long love letters to New York City,” said Ashkan Baghestani, Head of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction in New York. “Drawing dozens of works almost daily, Haring’s legacy unfolded in front of millions, as he transformed the everyday experience into the extraordinary through his lexicon of instantly identifiable imagery. They sometimes stemmed from world events and other times from new technologies or were about life, love, and death.”
Previously, this set of Subway Drawings were last shown together during the Keith Haring: 1978-1982 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh will go on view at Sotheby’s New York ahead of its sale on November 21.
