Lucky Strike 3 is a 1987 silkscreen on paper by the late Pop artist Keith Haring. Its home portfolio, Lucky Strike, consists of nine posters commissioned by the Lucky Strike cigarette brand and an extra tenth that teases a smoking skeleton, a tongue-in-cheek addition from Haring, to which the company took a displeased attitude. “The man from Lucky Strike was not amused, but I could care less,” Haring wrote in a journal of the way his creative interpretation was received.

A spirited and childlike stylistic choice for a very adult habit, Lucky Strike 3 boasts Haring’s signature simple lines and radiant markings. With the addition of a Jack-In-The-Box, this piece feels particularly vintage and like a hallmark of its time, compared to the other works in the portfolio. Despite the light mood created by the incorporation of a child’s toy and the composition’s brightness of color, heavier themes may underscore Lucky Strike 3. Throughout his career, Haring’s passion for advocacy, particularly with regard to the HIV/AIDS crisis, saturated his works. Inspired by hieroglyphics and image-led narratives, Haring often employed dots as a symbol of the fast-spreading illness that loomed large and was impossible to forget. Lucky Strike 3’s spot-struck foundation is suggestive of the effects of the epidemic on society and the triviality of a cigarette ad in the midst of a global health crisis. Per usual, Haring was able to work commercially while remaining a uniquely passionate activist who never separated his values from his works, no matter the paycheck.

See also: Lucky Strike 1, Lucky Strike 2, Lucky Strike 4, and Lucky Strike 5.