Keith Haring
Portfolio of 5 Artists in Support of Bill T. Jones (Littmann P. 62) by Keith Haring was created as a 1986 lithograph in support of the dance company founded by choreographer Bill T. Jones and his partner Arnie Zane, part of a five-artist print portfolio raising funds for the troupe.
The work's central figure is built from a single head extending into multiple splayed legs, a spider-like structure that reads less as a literal body than as a study in simultaneous motion. The proliferation of limbs suggests the overlapping, intertwining choreography for which Jones' company was known, translating dance into Haring's graphic vocabulary of line and repetition rather than illustrating a specific step or pose.
Haring and Jones had a close working relationship that predated this print by several years. In 1984, Haring painted Jones' entire body in his signature calligraphic style for a performance piece, a process that took over four hours and produced one of the most striking documents of the two artists' collaboration. That partnership placed dance among the disciplines Haring engaged with most directly throughout his career, alongside music and public mural painting.
The portfolio reflects a broader pattern in Haring's practice: producing editioned prints in direct support of collaborators, causes and institutions he was personally connected to, rather than treating printmaking purely as a commercial or gallery-based activity. As part of a five-artist benefit set, the work also situates Haring within a wider network of downtown New York artists lending their names and images to support the city's dance and performance community during the mid-1980s.
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