Keith Haring's famous subway drawings, originally created as temporary street art never intended for preservation or commercial sale, are now receiving serious attention from the art market. The late artist's underground works have become the focus of dedicated collectors, mirroring the trajectory that elevated Jean-Michel Basquiat's work to astronomical prices.
In the early 1980s, collector Larry Warsh embarked on what would become an obsessive and methodical mission to track down and acquire Haring's ephemeral subway drawings. These works, created on blank advertising panels in New York City subway stations, were meant to be temporary expressions of art accessible to the public rather than commodities for the art market.
Warsh's determined pursuit of these underground masterpieces ultimately proved to be a lucrative investment strategy. His diligent efforts to locate and preserve these street art pieces demonstrated remarkable foresight in recognizing their future cultural and financial value.
The success of Warsh's collecting strategy was dramatically validated last November when Sotheby's hosted a major immersive exhibition featuring his collection of Haring's subway works. The show not only provided visitors with a comprehensive look at this important body of street art but also proved the commercial viability of the collector's vision.
The November auction at Sotheby's generated impressive results, with the group of Haring subway drawings earning a total of $9.2 million. This substantial sum reflects the growing market appreciation for Haring's work and suggests that his art is following a similar trajectory to that of Basquiat, whose works have reached record-breaking prices in recent years.
