Featuring “exceptional examples by many of the most critically acclaimed artists of the  20th and 21st centuries” [think: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fernando Botero, Alexander Calder, George Condo, Willem de Kooning, Lynne Drexler, Damian Hirst, David Hockney, Donald Judd, Ellsworth Kelly, Yayoi Kusama, Sol LeWitt, Robert Motherwell, Takashi Murakami, Richard Prince, Gerhard Richter, Ed Ruscha, Andy Warhol, and Christopher Wool], Sotheby’s upcoming Contemporary Day Auction—being held in three sessions on Thursday, November 21, at the Sotheby’s New York gallery (1334 York Avenue at 72nd Street)—is being highlighted by the buzzworthy Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh.

Most recently displayed in its entirety back in 2012 as part of the Brooklyn Museum’s widely hailed exhibition Keith Haring: 1978-1982, this entire suite of Haring’s subway drawings, created between 1980-1985, was published in partnership with the Keith Haring Foundation, as Keith Haring: 31 Subway Drawings (Princeton University Press, 2021), by Jeffrey Deitch, Henry Geldzhaler, Keith Haring, Carlo McCormick, and Larry Warsh. 

Warsh, the esteemed collector and publisher [Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Notebooks, the ISMs-series (Haring-isms, Warhol-isms, Basquiat-isms, Minter-isms), etc.)] has spent the last 40 years collecting and stewarding these 31 works, and in so doing has built the most extensive privately-held collection of Haring’s subway drawings.  Says Warsh of the collection—listed with a combined estimate of $6.3-9 million—“This auction is a rare opportunity for these drawings to be acquired by the next steward of Haring’s work, who I hope will be equally agreeable to loaning them out for public exhibitions. It would be fantastic to see institutions get in on the bidding and buying—ultimately, they can provide a strong next chapter for this significant body of work.”

What's more, Sotheby’s has teamed up with Samsung to present a very cool, immersive exhibition at Sotheby’s New York [open from 10AM to 5 PM every day through Wednesday, November 20] designed to replicate one of the MTA’s 1980s-era New York City subway stations, complete with turnstiles and benches.  And, thanks to some of Samsung’s state-of-the-art technologies—including the Neo QLED 8K TV, The Premiere 9 triple laser projector, Music Frame, The Frame, and Micro LED—they have taken archival footage of Haring creating his drawings and brought them to life, allowing guests the opportunity of viewing the works “in-situ” as they were originally created, some forty years ago.

As Warsh explains, quoting Haring (vis-à-vis the artist’s 1984 essay, “The Subway Is Still My Favorite Place to Draw”), “Haring often spoke of 'art for everybody,' and his commitment is unwavering as reflected by the amusing nature of his symbols: dancing figures, barking dogs, radiant babies, zapping UFO’s. Indeed, these images are accessible to all walks of life. Haring considered these images as 'part of the collective consciousness of modern man,' and he designed them to 'provoke people to think and use their own imagination.'"

Hear, hear!

Art in Transit: 31 Keith Haring Subway Drawings from the Collection of Larry Warsh
Session II of the Contemporary Day Auction
Sotheby’s New York
Thursday, November 21
Click HERE for info

Get into it!
#KeithHaring