Keith Haring‘s Untitled (Red and Green Woodcut) from 1983 is a stunning example of the artist’s ability to meet a range of mediums with adaptability, resourcefulness, and excellence. With bold, bright colors and a frenzied, energetic composition, the work encapsulates Haring’s iconic style and his message of social and political activism.

The woodcut features two flexible green figures that are simultaneously fluid and geometric, and in an apparent state of unconstrained dance and elation. Filling in the blank space of the composition, line work rendered in Fruit Roll Up red contrasts the serene green. The detail and placement of the lines appears to be very intentional; the dotted lines through the extremities of the characters are reminiscent of an electrical current of personal touch making the sensations tingle.

Thematically, this artwork revolves around connection, one of Haring’s most common motifs. However, this connection may go beyond just that of friends, as the tension marked by gestural lines between the characters’ hands that meet in the middle is suggestive of something more. The “oh” that fills the mind of the left figure as well as the lines of “enlightenment” that form an electrically charged halo around either head are heavily suggestive of sexual connection, a motif that also made recurring appearances in Haring’s work. Haring’s astuteness for color reinforces the ecstasy of Untitled (Red and Green Woodcut), a piece of pure pleasure that preserves a transcendent part of the human experience with a sense of immediacy, authenticity, and joy.