Pop Shop III, Plate IV
Pop Shop III, Plate IV
Signed Print
Keith Haring
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Medium: Screenprint
Edition size: 200
Year: 1989
Size: H 34cm x W 42cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Artwork | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| April 2021 | Sotheby's New York - United States | Pop Shop III, Plate IV - Signed Print | |||
| December 2020 | Ketterer Kunst Hamburg - Germany | Pop Shop III, Plate IV - Signed Print | |||
| September 2020 | Galerie Kornfeld - Germany | Pop Shop III, Plate IV - Signed Print | |||
| March 2020 | Forum Auctions London - United Kingdom | Pop Shop III, Plate IV - Signed Print | |||
| April 2006 | Bonhams San Francisco - United States | Pop Shop III, Plate IV - Signed Print |
Meaning & Analysis
Plate IV from Keith Haring’s third set of the Pop Shop screen prints. Pop Shop III was released in 1989 in an edition of 200. Typical of Haring’s humorous style, the third set of the Pop Shop prints depicts his signature figures involved in some kind of altercation with an early computer. Heavily outlined in black and filled with bright colours reminiscent of commercial art or cartoons, they emanate energy and solidarity while also evoking empathy and tension.
Haring’s famous Pop Shop series is a testament to the artist’s ingenuity when it came to translating his drawings to the medium of screen printing. The title, a reference to his famous Pop Shop which opened in Manhattan’s SoHo in 1986, also represents his desire to make art accessible to everyone by producing large editions of affordable prints.
Aimed at kids and collectors alike, the Pop Shops were a place where Haring could sell his art for as little as 50 cents. The store stocked t-shirts, badges and magnets featuring his now ubiquitous designs. While the project was praised by friends such as Andy Warhol, who was fascinated by the possibilities of the work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, it was snubbed by many leading art world figures who placed more value on original works of art. Speaking of the importance of opening the shop as opposed to making large canvases to please collectors, Haring said, “I could earn more money if I just painted a few things and jacked up the price. My shop is an extension of what I was doing in the subway stations, breaking down the barriers between high and low art.”
Printed in five layers of colour – grey, black, green, red and yellow – this work shows Haring’s mastery of screen printing as a medium. Though he had experimented with print techniques such as lithography in the late 70s and 80s it wasn’t until 1983 that Haring began making screen prints, or serigraphs, which offered a way of creating multiple images, that artists had adopted from the world of commercial printing. This move to screen printing was undoubtedly due in part to the method being popularised by Warhol, one of Haring’s most important influences, and soon he was producing ever more inventive and daring work.
It soon became evident that the energy and curiosity he demonstrated for painting translated perfectly into printmaking and he began to work with publishers across the US, Switzerland, Japan, Germany, France, Denmark and Holland. The prints featuring singular images were released as portfolios of four, each from an edition of 200, while the Quad prints— compiling four images in a grid format— were released in an edition of 75. Totalling 875 prints featuring the grey-yellow-turquoise-red Pop Shop III artworks and exemplifying the prolific productivity of Haring’s printmaking, each individual print nevertheless reflects the attentive care paid by Haring throughout the production process. Though initially the singular Pop Shop III prints were released as four-part portfolios (and remain extremely valuable in their original sets of matching edition numbers) many portfolios have inevitably been divided.
By the time of his death, Haring had produced so many prints that the exact number has become impossible to count. There are many unsigned editions on the market, though these tend only to be considered valuable if approved by the Keith Haring Foundation. Today his prints are frequently among the most sought after multiples on the market.
