The final stop on our recent trip and the final expanded blog post looks at the Keith Haring show that just finished up at the Tate Liverpool.
Although much revered in the art world and for good reason, I wasn't always a Keith Haring fan. I can actually remember seeing his art work in Toadies house in Neighbours (the Australian soap) and I really didn't like it. I guess the age old adage of its better to love it or hate it stands true but thankfully I grew to really love Harings work. As I've fallen further into the graffiti and street art rabbit hole, the more I admire artist's like Haring who we're out on the streets placing work in public space and taking a risk. The illegal element is so important to many of the cultural revolutions that we've seen whether its NYC teens writing their names on subway cars or house Djs playing records in the English countryside.
Many of these movements have gone on to become bigger than anyone could have expected but 20, 30 even 40 years on it seems like corporations have their teeth into all of it. And of course Haring was no stranger to product endorsement, just check out his designs for Absolut Vodka. But since his passing Haring has gained a massive mainstream audience whilst his legacy still rings true to the ideas and beliefs that he held. I'd recently read his personal diaries which delve into his early life at art school and onto his wider success in the NYC scene and Europe. Stories of his travels and exploits are always peppered with stories of his connections to people and places, the kids who helped him create a new mural or the friends who's support has been vital to helping him achieve his goals. His stories are very human, especially for an art super star. And Haring was a huge star even before his passing.
With his connections to Warhol and Basquiat it's easy to imagine Haring as the superstar artist, jet setting around the globe, his passing seeing his name and his work pass into legend with prices for work at auction getting higher each year. It seems like something he was comfortable with when he was alive and it seems to be the norm for work originating on the streets with Banksy and KAWS both hitting new highs while artists like Basquiat recieve the museum treatment with huge retrospectives. So I began to wonder how the Tate Liverpool would handle Haring's legacy and his story. And the answer is quite well!
As soon as you entered the space the first image is of Keith sitting casually on a subway bench, the site where he cut his teeth drawing his characters illegally using chalk. The first large works are two wooden hoardings which feature iconic Haring pieces, painted on the streets and now worth millions in a private art collection. Although these pieces haven't been on the streets for a few almost 3 decades there's a decay, a layer of grime that harks back to their original location and drew me in. From here we found information and early drawings from Harings art school days, all things pointing towards his later work but still in the development stages along with hand written notes and sketchbooks. This room led into another, darker space that explored his subway drawings and street works a bit further. Videos of Haring speaking about his chalk drawings play while the real thing sits behind a layer of safety glass and fragments of experimental street works sit as museum artifcats. The artist stares out from iconic NYC subway portraits, some of my favourite pieces from the show.
As with many modern street artists, Haring aligned himself with causes and organisations that hoped to create positive social change and to raise awareness for important issues of the time including the apartheid regime in South Africa and the crack endemic of NYC ghettos. Haring took many of these issues and put them directly onto the streets, printing posters which were given out free at events and murals like his 'Crack is Wack' piece. The next room begins to explore his techniques, a vital aspect of his work being the bold lines and distinctive characters that many associate with his name. Seeing the drips and lines of these larger canvases showed a bit more of the human element that he speaks about in his diaries, the imperfections bringing the work back to the hand of Haring. They we're quite special to see and especially in such volume.
The largest of the exhibition spaces showcased a mix of iconic pieces, more large scale painting's (including the biggest painting I've seen in real life) and works the traced the last years of Harings short life as he was diagnosed with AIDS before eventually succumbing to the disease. At a time when diagnosis was a death sentence Haring set to work making as much as he could and putting the plans in place for the Keith Haring Foundation which continues to raise funds for AIDS charities and handles the artists legacy. A highlight from this section proved to be the recreation of a Haring gallery show, designed to show how Haring often presented his shows, complete with pumping music and black lights, closer to the downtown nightclubs he frequented with Grace Jones than the sterile white cube gallery spaces. The paintings glowed while the disco vibes flowed through the speakers. A stark contrast to the last few pieces in the show which saw a shift from the fun characters to a darker tone, scenes which brought to mind Dantes 9 circles of hell with figures pooping out dancing men while others lie with crossed out eyes. I think the fear and uncertainty of his diagnosis played out on these canvases and it felt quite heartbreaking to see.
The show finished as it started with a final portrait of Haring, standing on a skateboard in patch work jeans giving us some devil horns. An artist caught goofing around, captured forever as a young man who'd already achieved so much before his passing in 1990 at the age of 31. In the last year we've seen his mural rediscovered in the Netherlands while many of his iconic street works have become attractions for the new street art aficionados. The Tate Liverpool did a great job in tracing the Keith Haring story for a new generation and bridging the gap between the art works and their creator. The Tate shop was also full of merchandise, a big point for Haring with his own affordable 'Pop Shop' in NYC and Japan setting a new precedent for artist merchandise at affordable prices so I think he'd approve.
When I finished reading the Keith Haring diaries I was hit by the sadness of what he might have achieved if he'd lived and just how far he could have pushed those bold line drawings. We'll never know but certainly in his short life Haring had a huge impact both on the art world and on art in public space, a pioneer, an original and an incredibly kind human being. The human element is central to Keith Haring and it continues to play its part 3 decades later from the £1 pin badges on my lapel to the millions of posters and postcards that adorn walls around the world, Haring's name and legacy live on but always underpinned by the values and ideas that made him special. A blueprint for a new generation to follow and expand upon because we need more artists and street artists like Keith Haring!
Although much revered in the art world and for good reason, I wasn't always a Keith Haring fan. I can actually remember seeing his art work in Toadies house in Neighbours (the Australian soap) and I really didn't like it. I guess the age old adage of its better to love it or hate it stands true but thankfully I grew to really love Harings work. As I've fallen further into the graffiti and street art rabbit hole, the more I admire artist's like Haring who we're out on the streets placing work in public space and taking a risk. The illegal element is so important to many of the cultural revolutions that we've seen whether its NYC teens writing their names on subway cars or house Djs playing records in the English countryside.
Many of these movements have gone on to become bigger than anyone could have expected but 20, 30 even 40 years on it seems like corporations have their teeth into all of it. And of course Haring was no stranger to product endorsement, just check out his designs for Absolut Vodka. But since his passing Haring has gained a massive mainstream audience whilst his legacy still rings true to the ideas and beliefs that he held. I'd recently read his personal diaries which delve into his early life at art school and onto his wider success in the NYC scene and Europe. Stories of his travels and exploits are always peppered with stories of his connections to people and places, the kids who helped him create a new mural or the friends who's support has been vital to helping him achieve his goals. His stories are very human, especially for an art super star. And Haring was a huge star even before his passing.
With his connections to Warhol and Basquiat it's easy to imagine Haring as the superstar artist, jet setting around the globe, his passing seeing his name and his work pass into legend with prices for work at auction getting higher each year. It seems like something he was comfortable with when he was alive and it seems to be the norm for work originating on the streets with Banksy and KAWS both hitting new highs while artists like Basquiat recieve the museum treatment with huge retrospectives. So I began to wonder how the Tate Liverpool would handle Haring's legacy and his story. And the answer is quite well!
As soon as you entered the space the first image is of Keith sitting casually on a subway bench, the site where he cut his teeth drawing his characters illegally using chalk. The first large works are two wooden hoardings which feature iconic Haring pieces, painted on the streets and now worth millions in a private art collection. Although these pieces haven't been on the streets for a few almost 3 decades there's a decay, a layer of grime that harks back to their original location and drew me in. From here we found information and early drawings from Harings art school days, all things pointing towards his later work but still in the development stages along with hand written notes and sketchbooks. This room led into another, darker space that explored his subway drawings and street works a bit further. Videos of Haring speaking about his chalk drawings play while the real thing sits behind a layer of safety glass and fragments of experimental street works sit as museum artifcats. The artist stares out from iconic NYC subway portraits, some of my favourite pieces from the show.
As with many modern street artists, Haring aligned himself with causes and organisations that hoped to create positive social change and to raise awareness for important issues of the time including the apartheid regime in South Africa and the crack endemic of NYC ghettos. Haring took many of these issues and put them directly onto the streets, printing posters which were given out free at events and murals like his 'Crack is Wack' piece. The next room begins to explore his techniques, a vital aspect of his work being the bold lines and distinctive characters that many associate with his name. Seeing the drips and lines of these larger canvases showed a bit more of the human element that he speaks about in his diaries, the imperfections bringing the work back to the hand of Haring. They we're quite special to see and especially in such volume.
The largest of the exhibition spaces showcased a mix of iconic pieces, more large scale painting's (including the biggest painting I've seen in real life) and works the traced the last years of Harings short life as he was diagnosed with AIDS before eventually succumbing to the disease. At a time when diagnosis was a death sentence Haring set to work making as much as he could and putting the plans in place for the Keith Haring Foundation which continues to raise funds for AIDS charities and handles the artists legacy. A highlight from this section proved to be the recreation of a Haring gallery show, designed to show how Haring often presented his shows, complete with pumping music and black lights, closer to the downtown nightclubs he frequented with Grace Jones than the sterile white cube gallery spaces. The paintings glowed while the disco vibes flowed through the speakers. A stark contrast to the last few pieces in the show which saw a shift from the fun characters to a darker tone, scenes which brought to mind Dantes 9 circles of hell with figures pooping out dancing men while others lie with crossed out eyes. I think the fear and uncertainty of his diagnosis played out on these canvases and it felt quite heartbreaking to see.
The show finished as it started with a final portrait of Haring, standing on a skateboard in patch work jeans giving us some devil horns. An artist caught goofing around, captured forever as a young man who'd already achieved so much before his passing in 1990 at the age of 31. In the last year we've seen his mural rediscovered in the Netherlands while many of his iconic street works have become attractions for the new street art aficionados. The Tate Liverpool did a great job in tracing the Keith Haring story for a new generation and bridging the gap between the art works and their creator. The Tate shop was also full of merchandise, a big point for Haring with his own affordable 'Pop Shop' in NYC and Japan setting a new precedent for artist merchandise at affordable prices so I think he'd approve.
When I finished reading the Keith Haring diaries I was hit by the sadness of what he might have achieved if he'd lived and just how far he could have pushed those bold line drawings. We'll never know but certainly in his short life Haring had a huge impact both on the art world and on art in public space, a pioneer, an original and an incredibly kind human being. The human element is central to Keith Haring and it continues to play its part 3 decades later from the £1 pin badges on my lapel to the millions of posters and postcards that adorn walls around the world, Haring's name and legacy live on but always underpinned by the values and ideas that made him special. A blueprint for a new generation to follow and expand upon because we need more artists and street artists like Keith Haring!
