Freud Drawings 1989

Keith Haring made this drawing in his signature style of bright colors and bold lines, responding to the ideas of Sigmund Freud. There’s a flatness to the image and a real directness in the application of colour, like he’s not trying to trick you with any fancy techniques. It's like, here it is, bam! The red and blue figure on the left looks like it’s been built up from several layers of looping lines, which are also the lines that define its form, like a kind of visual echo. The colours are applied in blocks with very little blending or shading, but Haring finds ways to suggest depth, especially through the juxtaposition of the vibrant greens and yellows. The small image in the center, like a detail of a dream is fascinating, and I keep thinking about how Haring reinterpreted the world around him, taking inspiration from graffiti art. It's like Cy Twombly meets Jean-Michel Basquiat! Haring has a real talent for distilling complex ideas into simple shapes. The ambiguity of art, right?