Untitled 1979

In this black painting, made by Keith Haring, there is an army of calligraphic marks, all clumped together. I imagine Haring, in his studio, making this painting. One mark leads to another, a dance or maybe a frenzy. Do you ever get the feeling that the artist is just trying to work something out? That they are building a whole world of marks, each one a step in a process. Haring knew that the image emerges from this kind of working, from the repetition and variation of marks. It is quite intuitive, like jazz. Look closely, you'll notice some of the white lines have a shadow to one side, a subtle stroke of another colour which picks them out from the darkness. The surface of the painting becomes a field of possibility, where anything can happen. It is a reminder that art is not just about the final product, but also about the journey of making. Like Haring and Warhol, painting is about being in an ongoing conversation with all artists across time.