Keith Haring
UNTITLED, 1983
Woodcut
24 x 30 inches
61 x 76 cm
13/60
Available at Surovek Gallery
The United States Post Office has just released the 2025 Love Stamp with an Untitled 1985 work by Keith Haring (1958–1990).
“The non-specificity of the figures allows a variety of people to see themselves in this stamp,” said Antonio Alcalá, an art director for USPS. “Partners getting married, celebrating an anniversary, siblings sending each other a heartfelt greeting, or even party planners setting a positive tone for their event.”
The first Love stamp was issued in 1973, with Robert Indiana’s iconic 1960s LOVE design. The stamp was issued as a Special Stamp for Someone Special. It was so popular with the public that 300 million were sold. The cost of the stamp in 1973 was 8 cents.
The next LOVE stamp was issued in 1982 and a LOVE stamp has been issued almost every year since then. Since 2011, the LOVE stamps have been Forever stamps, equal in value to the current First- Class Mail one-ounce price. Haring’s 2025 LOVE stamp costs 52 cents.
Haring’s hometown of Kutztown, Pennsylvania, honored him last October with an historical marker near the home in which he was born and raised. He graduated from Kutztown High School in 1976 and spent several semesters at the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh before moving to New York City in 1978. He enrolled in courses at the School of Visual Art and became part of the art, music and culture scene where his iconic subway drawings led to a brilliant, if too brief, career as an artist.
Last November, 31 of Haring’s subway drawings sold at Sotheby’s for a total of $9.2 million, exceeding the auction house’s $6.9 million pre-sale estimate.
Robert Indiana (1928-2018), Alex Katz (b.1927), Jim Dine (b.1935) and Willem De Kooning (1904-1997) were honored at the 2024 Venice Biennale.
Indiana’s LOVE paintings and sculptures are so iconic, on view in cities all over the world, in several languages, that it overshadows much of the other great works that he did. Early sculptures, done when he lived in New York’s Contes Slip, were part of the exhibit at the Biennale. Works from his Berlin Series, inspired by American artist Marsden Hartley's War Motif series are available at Surovek Gallery.
Alex Katz was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 2023. Katz was commended “for conjuring an enduring portrait of America.” The White House award citation states: “With a ferocious work ethic and visionary style, he continues to condense the complexities of everyday life into iconic faces and landscapes that reveal the essence of who we are as Americans.”
Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Keith Haring, Robert Indiana and Alex Katz, available at Surovek Gallery.
References:
Tom Rader. 'It will be here forever': Historical marker for artist and activist Keith Haring dedicated in Kutztown. WFMZ 69 News. October 11, 2024.
Julia Binswanger. Keith Haring Created These Striking Subway Drawings While Waiting for Trains on His Way to Work. Smithsonian Magazine. November 27, 2024.
Tim Brinkhof. Keith Haring’s Subway Drawings Pull in $9.2 Million in a White-Glove Sale. Artnet. November 22, 2024.
Philippe Dagen. Four American artists honored at Venice Biennale. Le Monde. May 12, 2024.
