KEITH HARING: Art Everywhere and In Everyone
January 20, 2006
| It's very peculiar to walk through a museum and have the impression that pieces of art you are staring at were really made (also) for you. In this case, knowing more about the artist and his concepts on art and human beings in general may confirm or weaken this feeling, letting you enter his world. Probably, when the favourite game of a very young child is spending his time drawing, not only copying cartoon characters but developing his own simple and vivid figures , this could be taken as a revealing sign of what the future may hold. Keith Haring started drawing simply for the shear need of it, never left this attitude and this deep desire of expression, considering the world around him as a blank canvas at his disposal. |
In the same spirit Haring did not totally follow the common paths in education, doing his own deep research on several inspirational artists, and at the same time "using" the school as a chance to get in touch with other similar minds. He was respectful of art history, studies and techniques, but also perceived the spreading of his imagery as his main concrete goal. The place and the time in which Haring resided, the alternative NY scene in the early 80's, were full of new energy and through those extraordinary years in New York Haring shared his art and projects with artists such as J.M. Basquiat, Madonna, Grace Jones, William Burroughs, Timothy Leary, and Andy Warhol to name a few.
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However at the same time, mere children in many countries were co-authors of many of his "public works", that gave life to walls, hospital buildings, churches, squares and many other unconventional locations; that is definitely not surprising for an artist that had his first popularity filling the black empty advertising panels in the New York subway with white chalk drawings ... hundreds of them, even almost 40 in a single day (even being arrested several times).This urgency of expression was fed by the idea of a "public art" truly disconnected from the museum and gallery circle, ready to spring (and especially being enjoyed) onto the streets, for everyone who was just walking thoughtful or taking another commuter train.The same idea inspired to open of "The Pop Shop" in Soho, where his art was sold at very attainable prices in many shapes and forms, in another attempt to allow the widest audience possible to be reached, despite the contrary opinion of Haring' s contemporaries of the overpopularisation of art. Childhood always meant so much to Keith Haring; he was always ready to drop a line and give it as a simple gift, he visited children hospitals in many countries to decorate the walls with fluorescent colors and brighten everyday life of small patients. He explored sexual themes in many of his works, but refused to represent them in any space possibly frequented by children, with a delicate respect of their purity. At the same time he saw children as individuals with every potential still intact ,and he portrayed them as sources of energy, rays sent to the world. Haring, as many of his generation involved in that early 80's NY alternative scene, was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988. He created a self named foundation, with the mission to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children's programs, and to expand the audience of his work . He spent a big part of the final chapter of his life speaking about his own illness and generating activism and awareness about AIDS, struggling and drawing in every possible situation till his very last days; now his work is visible worldwide, in galleries and respected museums, on pins, cups, t-shirts, posters and as well just around on the streets in so many different places-from former Berlin wall to an ancient Pisan church to hidden metropolis walls (like the famous "crack is wack ! "mural ); that's really a VIVID legacy. |
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Suggested readings: Keith Haring diaries www.keithharing.com www.haringkids.com |
