In the Apocalypse (8) print, Keith Haring visually embodies William Burroughs’ tumultuous scene of acceleration and chaos. On a stark white background, Haring’s iconic devil sperm, emphasized in bold black, sits at the core, a horn notably broken, suggesting vulnerability amidst the menace.
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This is where we all came in blue and white paint from when Everyman sees color nightmares are right here warehouses and piers electric energy floods inorganic molds subways faster and faster, glass steel girder Pan God of Panic whips screaming concrete, faces look up at the torn sky and burn with madness. TRACK the planet is pulling bucking cars and trucks careening into space faster and faster into the Void spinning walks and streets flash by like subway stations in a reek of ozone.
The sinister “666” looms in the top left corner, its final numeral stretching across, encapsulating the scene and further invoking imagery from the Book of Revelations. This addition strongly accentuates the theme of hell, further emphasized by the hellish beings; from a birdlike creature with tangled, noodle-esque wings converging into an eye to a mechanical canine dripping ink from its snout. Interspersed are dripping shapes and a faded dotted line, alluded to as boundaries or demarcations in this chaotic inferno.
Yet, amidst the bedlam, a magazine clipping presents a 1950s girl in her First Communion attire. Seemingly out of place, Haring employs mutation, grafting on additional limbs that mirror the surrounding pandemonium. The radiant lines emanating from the child echo Haring’s “Radiant Baby,” presenting a beacon of hope and purity. However, juxtaposed directly above is a pale purple phallus, graffiti-like, emanating from a glory hole, juxtaposing sacrality with clandestine, stigmatized encounters.
This glory hole, specifically linked with 1980s gay culture, becomes emblematic of society’s characterization of AIDS as the “gay plague.” From it, the devil sperm ascends, as if originating from this vilified act. Through collage, Haring fuses innocence with societal demons, positing a jarring, yet poignant reflection on the era’s tumult and prejudices.
