Keith Haring Art Auction

It was nearly 34 years ago, in December 1986, that world-renowned street artist Keith Haring visited Phoenix for a well-documented, week-long visit that included a drawing workshop at Phoenix Art Museum, lectures, and most notably, a collaborative project with some 60 students from South Mountain High School that produced a bold, colorful, abstract 125-foot mural on the wall of an abandoned building in downtown Phoenix. The visit was widely publicized and the student workshop was documented by longtime Phoenix professional photographer Dan Vermillion.

Now, more than three decades later, an acrylic painting that Haring gifted to a young man during the trip will be auctioned at 12 p.m. PT on Friday, June 19 at EJ’s Auction & Appraisal in Glendale, Arizona. The image measures 35.75” x 25.5” and it is signed on the bottom right with a personalized note on the back of the canvas along with a second signature.

EJ’s Auction & Appraisal retained the services of Bart Baggett, a renowned forensic document examiner and an experienced expert witness, to examine the handwriting.

On March 25, 2020, Mr. Baggett provided EJ’s with his professional expert written opinion that the handwriting was by the hand of Keith Haring. Read the report here.