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KEITH HARING: FROM THE SUBWAY DARKNESS TO INTERNATIONAL FAME
16 October 2011
Catégorie : BIOGRAPHY
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Cet article se compose de 3 pages.
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During his brief but bustling career Haring's works were shown in over 100 solo and group exhibitions. Much sought after to participate in collaborative projects he worked with several reknown artists and performers such as Madonna, Grace Jones, Bill T. Jones, William Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol. By expressing universal concepts of birth, death, love, sex and war with his simple highly recognizable drawings, Haring was able to attract a wide audience to his imagery, which has become a universally recognized visual language of the 20th century.
Since his death, Haring's work has been the subject of several international retrospectives. The work of Keith Haring can be seen today in the exhibitions and collections of major museums around the world.
In December 2007, an area of the American Textile Building in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City was discovered to contain a painting of Haring's from 1979.Recently an antique dealer from Houston Street in New York discovered a pillar metal plaque of the Bowery subway station on which he had painted his famous "Radiant Baby" in 1981 or so. In June 2008 there was a retrospective exhibition containing 200 pieces of his work (from the collection of Sigrid Wecken) in Terrassa, Spain.
Keith Haring's statement: " I have been drawing since I was four years old. I learned to draw from my father, who would entertain me by inventing cartoon animals. Although he never pursued an artistic career, he encouraged me to continue drawing throughout my school years. Drawing became a way of commanding respect and communicatiing with people. When I was eighteen, my work, which had been primarily cartoon-oriented, became increasingly abstract and concerned with spontaneous action. I became interested in Eastern Calligraphy and the art of the Gesture. When I moved to New York City at the age of twenty, I started to experiment with drawing on paper that was so large that I had to stand inside the drawing. Although my work was still "Abstract" at this time, I became aware of the vast differences in people's responses to the work. Different people saw different things in the drawings. I remember most clearly an afternoon of drawing in a studio that large doors that opened onto Twenty-second Street. All kinds of people would stop and look at the huge drawing and many were eager to comment on their feelings toward it. This was the first time I realized how many people could enjoy art if they were given the chance. These were not the people I saw in the museums or in the galleries but a cross section of humanity that cut across all boundaries. This group of different people living and working together in harmony has always been my prime attraction to New York.
I arrived in New York at a time when the most beautiful paintings being shown in the city were on wheels - on trains - paintings that traveled to you instead of vice versa. I was immediately attracted to the subway graffiti on several levels: the obvious mastery of drawing and color, the scale, the pop imagery, the commitment to drawing worthy of risk and the direct relationship between artist and audience. I had no intention, however, of jumping on the bandwagon and imitating their style.
For two years, I was an observer. During that time, my art was going through several changes. I began making videotapes and doing performances. I was introduced to the work of William Burroughs and began experimenting with words and meaning ina similar style. I studied semiotics, the science of signs and symbols.
In 1980, I returned to drawing with a new commitment to purpose and reality. If I was going to draw, there had to be a reason. That reason, I decided, was for people. The only way art lives is through the experience of the observer. The reality of art begins in the eyes of the beholder and gains power through imagination, invention, and confrontation.
Doing things in public was not a new idea. The climate of art in New York at that time was certainly moving in that direction. It seemed obvious to me when I saw the first empty subway panel that this was the perfect situation. The advertisements that fill every subway panel that this was the perfect situation. The advertisements that fill every subway platform are changed periodically. When there aren't enough new ads, a black paper panel is substituted. I remember noticing a panel in the Times Square station and immediately going aboveground and buying chalk. After the first drawing, things just fell into place. I began drawing in the subways as a hobby on my way to work. I had to ride the subways often and would do a drawing while waiting for a train. In a few weeks, I started to get responses from people who say me doing it.
After a while, my subway drawings became more of a responsibility than a hobby. So many people wished me luck and told me to "keep it up" that it became difficult to stop. From the beginning, one of the main incentives was this contact with people I It became a rewarding experience to draw and to see the drawings being appreciated. The number of people passing one of these drawings in a week was phenomal. Even if the drawing only remained up for only one day, enough people saw it to make it easily worth my effort.
The panel remains from a few days to a few weeks before a new advertisement is posted on tip of it. This constant replenishment forces me to keep inventing new images and ideas. The images are part of the collective consciousness of modern man. Sometimes they stem from world events, sometimes from ideas about technology or people changing roles in relation to God and evolution. All of the drawings use images that universally "readable". They are are often inspired by popular culture.
The drawings are designed to provoke people to think and use their own imagination. They don't have exact definitions but challenge the viewer to assert his or her own ideas and interpretation. Sometimes, people find this uncomfortable, especially because the drawings are ina space usually reserved for advertisements which tell you exactly what to think. Sometimes the advertisements on the side of the empty panels provide inspiration for the drawings and often create ironic associations.
When there are grafitti "tags" (signatures) on the black panel before I arrive, I usually draw around and in between the signatures. I would never draw over other people's tags. This mutual respect among graffiti writers, however, does not extend to other people. Sometimes other people sign my drawings after I've left. Sometimes they erase them, cross them out, or even steal them. These are the only things that inhibit my work in the subway.
The drawings are by necessity quick and simple. This is not only for easy readability but also to avoid getting arrested. Technically they are still graffiti. Because they are only chalk and the black ads are only temporary, it is hard to call them vandalism; however, different policeman respond in different ways. I have been caught many times. Some cops have given me a $10.00 ticket, some have handcuffed me and taken me in. By the time they let me go, most of them tell me they like the drawing, but they're just doing their job. More than once, I've been taken to a station handcuffed by a cop who realized, much to his dismay, that the other cops in the precinct are my fans and were anxious to meet me and shake my hand.
I have been drawing in the subway for three years now, and although my career aboveground has skyrocketed, the subway is still my favorite place to draw. There is something very "real" about the subway system and the people who travel in it; perhaps there is not another place in the world where people of such diverse appearance, background, and life-style have intermingled for a common purpose. In this underground environment, one can often feel a sense of oppression and struggle in the vast assortment of faces. It is in this context that an expression of hope and beauty carries the greatest rewards.
-- Keith Haring
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Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and was raised in nearby Kutztown. At a very young age he developed a love for drawing, improving his cartooning skills with the help of his father and taking a deep interest in the popular culture around him and Walt Disney's films.
After graduating from high school in 1976, Haring frequented the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, a commercial arts school but disliking the prospect of becoming a commercial graphic artist he gave up his studies after two semester and decided to train and work on his own before having a solo exhibition of his work in 1978 at the Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center.
Haring moved to New York City the same year and pursued his studies at the School of Visual Arts (SVA). At the same time he mingled with some young artists who were freely working in the downtown streets and the subways. It was there that he became friends with some artists like Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as the musicians, performance artists and graffiti writers belonging to this new art community.
Impressed by the innovation and energy shown by these artists who had decided to confront the public with their works, Haring was also inspired by the achievements of Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Robert Henri's manifesto The Art Spirit, which asserted the need of total independence for emerging artists. Haring thus sensed that it was essential to develop a king of simple graphic expression based on the primacy of the line to draw the attention of the public to his art.
In 1980, Haring found a highly effective medium that led him to communicate with the wider audience he desired, when he created drawings with chalk upon unused advertising panels covered with matte black paper in a subway station, which helped him achieve his first public attention. These drawings were his first recognized pieces of pop art. Around this time, "The Radiant baby" became his symbol. Between 1980 and 1985, Haring produced hundreds of these public drawings in rapid rhythmic lines. As a result his images became familiar to New York commuters, who often would stop to engage the artist when they encountered him at work. The subway became, as Haring said, a "laboratory" for working out his ideas and experimenting with his simple lines.
His bold lines, vivid colors, and active figures carried strong messages of life and unity. In 1981 he sketched his first chalk drawings on black paper and painted plastic, metal and found objects.
Between 1980 and 1989, Haring achieved international recognition and participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. His first solo exhibition in New York.was held at the Westbeth Painters Space in 1981. In 1982, he met tremendous success with an immensely popular and highly acclaimed one-man exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in Soho.
In 1984, Haring visited Australia and painted wall murals in Melbourne and Sydney and received a AU$1000 commission from the National Gallery of Victoria and the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art to create a mural, based on his graffiti designs, which temporarily replaced the water curtain at the National Gallery. He also visited and painted in Rio de Janeiro, the Paris Museum of Modern Art, Minneapolis and Manhattan.
Haring started in 1985 to paint on canvas. While the Museum of Modern Art in Bordeaux opened an exhibition of his works, he took part in the Paris Biennial and made an appearance on MTV in November 1985, painting the set during a "guest VJ" special hosted by his friend, keyboardist Nick Rhodes of the Duran Duran group. In 1986 Haring painted murals in Amsterdam, Paris, Phoenix and Berlin.
Haring also participated in renowned international exhibitions such as Documenta 7 in Kassel; the São Paulo Biennial; and the Whitney Biennial. After reaching fame with his easily recognizable figures, Haring completed numerous public projects, designing sets and backdrops for theaters and clubs, developing watch designs for Swatch and an advertising campaign for Absolut vodka; and creating murals in many countries.
In April 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop, a retail store in Soho selling T-shirts, toys, posters, buttons and magnets bearing his images. Haring considered the shop to be an extension of his work and painted the entire interior of the store designed by himself and intended to allow people greater access to his work, which was now readily available on products at a low cost.
Haring also devoted much of his time to public works, which often carried social messages. He produced more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989, in dozens of cities around the world, many of which were created for charities, hospitals, children's day care centers and orphanages. His most interesting projects were a mural created for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, a mural on the exterior of Necker Children's Hospital in Paris, France in 1987; and a mural painted on the western side of the Berlin Wall three years before it went down .
After being diagnosed with AIDS in 1988 Haring established the following year the Keith Haring Foundation with the aim of providing funds and imagery to AIDS organizations and children's programs, and to expand the audience without failing to speak about his own illness and generate activism and awareness about AIDS.
In June 1989, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio in Pisa, he painted the last public work of his life, the mural "Tuttomondo", along with 6 animated inserts for "Sesame Street" (which later aired a year after his death) Keith Haring died of AIDS related complications at the age of 31 on February 16, 1990.
During his brief but bustling career Haring's works were shown in over 100 solo and group exhibitions. Much sought after to participate in collaborative projects he worked with several reknown artists and performers such as Madonna, Grace Jones, Bill T. Jones, William Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol. By expressing universal concepts of birth, death, love, sex and war with his simple highly recognizable drawings, Haring was able to attract a wide audience to his imagery, which has become a universally recognized visual language of the 20th century.
Since his death, Haring's work has been the subject of several international retrospectives. The work of Keith Haring can be seen today in the exhibitions and collections of major museums around the world.
In December 2007, an area of the American Textile Building in the TriBeCa neighborhood of New York City was discovered to contain a painting of Haring's from 1979.Recently an antique dealer from Houston Street in New York discovered a pillar metal plaque of the Bowery subway station on which he had painted his famous "Radiant Baby" in 1981 or so. In June 2008 there was a retrospective exhibition containing 200 pieces of his work (from the collection of Sigrid Wecken) in Terrassa, Spain.
Keith Haring's statement: " I have been drawing since I was four years old. I learned to draw from my father, who would entertain me by inventing cartoon animals. Although he never pursued an artistic career, he encouraged me to continue drawing throughout my school years. Drawing became a way of commanding respect and communicatiing with people. When I was eighteen, my work, which had been primarily cartoon-oriented, became increasingly abstract and concerned with spontaneous action. I became interested in Eastern Calligraphy and the art of the Gesture. When I moved to New York City at the age of twenty, I started to experiment with drawing on paper that was so large that I had to stand inside the drawing. Although my work was still "Abstract" at this time, I became aware of the vast differences in people's responses to the work. Different people saw different things in the drawings. I remember most clearly an afternoon of drawing in a studio that large doors that opened onto Twenty-second Street. All kinds of people would stop and look at the huge drawing and many were eager to comment on their feelings toward it. This was the first time I realized how many people could enjoy art if they were given the chance. These were not the people I saw in the museums or in the galleries but a cross section of humanity that cut across all boundaries. This group of different people living and working together in harmony has always been my prime attraction to New York.
I arrived in New York at a time when the most beautiful paintings being shown in the city were on wheels - on trains - paintings that traveled to you instead of vice versa. I was immediately attracted to the subway graffiti on several levels: the obvious mastery of drawing and color, the scale, the pop imagery, the commitment to drawing worthy of risk and the direct relationship between artist and audience. I had no intention, however, of jumping on the bandwagon and imitating their style.
For two years, I was an observer. During that time, my art was going through several changes. I began making videotapes and doing performances. I was introduced to the work of William Burroughs and began experimenting with words and meaning ina similar style. I studied semiotics, the science of signs and symbols.
In 1980, I returned to drawing with a new commitment to purpose and reality. If I was going to draw, there had to be a reason. That reason, I decided, was for people. The only way art lives is through the experience of the observer. The reality of art begins in the eyes of the beholder and gains power through imagination, invention, and confrontation.
Doing things in public was not a new idea. The climate of art in New York at that time was certainly moving in that direction. It seemed obvious to me when I saw the first empty subway panel that this was the perfect situation. The advertisements that fill every subway panel that this was the perfect situation. The advertisements that fill every subway platform are changed periodically. When there aren't enough new ads, a black paper panel is substituted. I remember noticing a panel in the Times Square station and immediately going aboveground and buying chalk. After the first drawing, things just fell into place. I began drawing in the subways as a hobby on my way to work. I had to ride the subways often and would do a drawing while waiting for a train. In a few weeks, I started to get responses from people who say me doing it.
After a while, my subway drawings became more of a responsibility than a hobby. So many people wished me luck and told me to "keep it up" that it became difficult to stop. From the beginning, one of the main incentives was this contact with people I It became a rewarding experience to draw and to see the drawings being appreciated. The number of people passing one of these drawings in a week was phenomal. Even if the drawing only remained up for only one day, enough people saw it to make it easily worth my effort.
The panel remains from a few days to a few weeks before a new advertisement is posted on tip of it. This constant replenishment forces me to keep inventing new images and ideas. The images are part of the collective consciousness of modern man. Sometimes they stem from world events, sometimes from ideas about technology or people changing roles in relation to God and evolution. All of the drawings use images that universally "readable". They are are often inspired by popular culture.
The drawings are designed to provoke people to think and use their own imagination. They don't have exact definitions but challenge the viewer to assert his or her own ideas and interpretation. Sometimes, people find this uncomfortable, especially because the drawings are ina space usually reserved for advertisements which tell you exactly what to think. Sometimes the advertisements on the side of the empty panels provide inspiration for the drawings and often create ironic associations.
When there are grafitti "tags" (signatures) on the black panel before I arrive, I usually draw around and in between the signatures. I would never draw over other people's tags. This mutual respect among graffiti writers, however, does not extend to other people. Sometimes other people sign my drawings after I've left. Sometimes they erase them, cross them out, or even steal them. These are the only things that inhibit my work in the subway.
The drawings are by necessity quick and simple. This is not only for easy readability but also to avoid getting arrested. Technically they are still graffiti. Because they are only chalk and the black ads are only temporary, it is hard to call them vandalism; however, different policeman respond in different ways. I have been caught many times. Some cops have given me a $10.00 ticket, some have handcuffed me and taken me in. By the time they let me go, most of them tell me they like the drawing, but they're just doing their job. More than once, I've been taken to a station handcuffed by a cop who realized, much to his dismay, that the other cops in the precinct are my fans and were anxious to meet me and shake my hand.
I have been drawing in the subway for three years now, and although my career aboveground has skyrocketed, the subway is still my favorite place to draw. There is something very "real" about the subway system and the people who travel in it; perhaps there is not another place in the world where people of such diverse appearance, background, and life-style have intermingled for a common purpose. In this underground environment, one can often feel a sense of oppression and struggle in the vast assortment of faces. It is in this context that an expression of hope and beauty carries the greatest rewards.
-- Keith Haring
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