In 1986, pop artist Keith Haring designed four watches for Swatch, going on to sell the limited edition pieces in his Pop Shop in New York. The watches captured his trademark irreverent aesthetic and fearless pictograms with bright hues and a bold, vibrant design.
For Swatch – which has collaborated with Kiki Picasso, David LaChapelle and Alfred Hofkunst – it was a natural partnership. Now, the Swiss watch brand revisits the collaboration with a play on the late artist’s fascination with Mickey Mouse, a symbol which frequently cropped up in the artist’s work.
The three watches in the Disney Mickey Mouse x Keith Haring collection unite familiar design motifs with bold primary colours. The red from Mickey’s shorts becomes a graphic pattern in Mouse Mariniere, which perches Haring’s illustration of Mickey on the glass case in a play on depth. In Eclectic Mickey, Haring’s hypnotic curved black and white lines form the contours of Mickey’s face which are magnified in the oversized proportions of the Swatch Maxi Mickey Blanc sur Noir. Mickey’s image remains faithful to Haring’s gently off-key reproduction – look closely, and you’ll see his idiosyncratic twisting of the familiar mouse.
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INFORMATION
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