Monday, June 25, 2012

Big Bad Wolf


If you could own one piece of Keith Haring's work, which would it be, and why?

I would love to have "Big Bad Wolf" hanging in my living room. Haring created this acrylic painting in 1984, and it is 60x60in. I like how he is utilizing the positive and negative space. His graphic, illustrative style is fun and seems almost humorous. I like the color palette because the colors work together nicely. The bright red tongue, big eyes, and bold black nose act as focal points of the piece. Those three compositional elements create a visual triangle that moves your eye throughout the page. He uses the same line quality and line weight in this piece adding to the graphic style. I like how he is letting the wolf go off of the canvas. He uses the space nicely, and is activating the entire composition. I wish I could have a series of square animal paintings in this style to hang on my wall. Haring is not interested in realism in this piece, his wolf appears to be a cartoon. He does not develop a sense of foreground, and background, therefore his painting appears flat. Haring uses basic geometric shapes, and does not include highlights, shadows, or a range of values. I like how he uses repetition in this piece. He repeats the triangle shape of the teeth, dots on the wolfs face, as well as the line work to insinuate a sense of movement next to his tongue and mouth.

http://www.haring.com/