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Legend Resurrected
FRESH • ARTS Legend Resurrected
Keith Haring painting resurfaces after 34 years
By Christina Fuoco-Karasinski K eith Haring’s bright, graffiti-like art is well known around the world. But a local woman tossed a Haring painting aside, saying it wasn’t her taste, when it was given to her.
She put it in storage and left it there for more than four decades. Recently, she emptied her storage unit and researched the artist who signed the orange, red and black painting.
Now, EJ’s Auction & Appraisal in Glendale will auction the painting at noon Friday, June 19.
“We’re excited to say the least,” says EJ’s owner Erik Hoyer, who lives with his wife, Naomi, in Cave Creek.
“The consigner was friends with a gentleman who was gifted the painting in the 1980s from Keith Haring when he came to visit Phoenix. She didn’t care for it. After a while, she thought she would look up the artist. She didn’t realize it could be worth some money.”
EJ’s will open for a public preview at 9 a.m. on auction day. A starting bid of $50,000 must be met for bidding to begin, and bidders are required to pre-register at ejsauction.com.
“The auction will be online,” he says. “We’ll be live in our auction house as well— COVID-19 permitting. We’re going to see what happens. We’ll have all the social distancing in place to keep everybody safe and sound.”
The image measures 35.75 inches by 25.5 inches and it is signed on the bottom right with a personalized note on the back of the canvas, along with a second signature.
“He was a prolific artist,” Hoyer says. “He signed everything—skateboards, tennis shoes, shirts—early on. I watched a video of him on the subway sneaking around signing boards. I think there’s a video of him getting arrested for doing it. He was a pretty interesting guy.”
EJ’s Auction & Appraisal retained the services of Bart Baggett, a renowned forensic
Keith Haring signed his painting and gave it to a man named Chris when he visited Phoenix in 1986. (Photo courtesy EJ’s Auction & Appraisal)
document examiner and an experienced expert witness, to examine the handwriting. On March 25, Baggett provided EJ’s with his professional expert written opinion that the handwriting was Haring’s hand.
“When it came in, I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, there’s no way to authenticate it,’” Hoyer recalls. “The Keith Haring Foundation disbanded. They no longer could authenticate any of his work.
“Being that it has such a nice writeup on the back of the painting, I decided to go with the foremost expert in forensic handwriting—Bart Baggett. He did his magic, went through it, compared it and his analysis came back it’s a Keith Haring.”
Erik Hoyer, owner of EJ’s Auction & Appraisal, holds a painting by Keith Haring that will be auctioned on Friday, June 19. (Photo courtesy EJ’s Auction & Appraisal)
Bidders can inspect the opinion letter and the painting by contacting EJ’s Auction & Appraisal. Video and photos can be found on EJ’s website, ejsauction.com, and EJ’s will schedule private viewings of the painting at its Glendale auction house through Thursday, June 18.
Haring visited Phoenix for a week-long visit that included a drawing workshop at the Phoenix Art Museum, lectures and, most notably, a collaborative project with 60 South Mountain High School students that produced a bold, colorful 125-foot mural on an abandoned building in Downtown Phoenix.
Haring’s charismatic life was cut short when he died of AIDS-related complications in 1990. He was 31 years old. EJ’s Auction & Appraisal has had Haring works before, but not a painting.
“We’ve had some signed letters come through before, but nothing of this magnitude,” Hoyer says. “It’s definitely a rarity. It’s a neat, neat piece.”
