Category Archives: Exhibitions

Pierre Alechinsky on Keith Haring

Red Yellow Blue #3, 1987 by Keith Haring

As a young artist Keith Haring was greatly influenced by the work of Pierre Alechinsky, a key figure of the CoBrA art movement.  An upcoming exhibition at the NSU Art Museum in Fort Lauderdale Confrontation:  Keith Haring and Pierre Alechinsky, connects the work of Haring to Alechinsky and CoBrA, emphasizing the legacy of CoBrA, a movement which eroded artistic and social barriers by bringing work into the streets and adapting non-traditional creative sources including children’s art and pre-historic visual culture in order to instigate social change.

While commemorating the anniversary of Keith Haring’s death, 32 years ago today, it’s heartening to consider and celebrate the way art can inspire and connect people across decades and movements.

On the occasion of this exhibition, Pierre Alechinsky was asked to write some thoughts about his experience with Keith Haring, which he has graciously allowed us to share below.

***

Confrontation 

K.H. (1958-1990) 

and 

P.A. (1927-…)

Keith Haring was 19 when he visited, in Pittsburgh, the retrospective of the fifty something I was becoming in 1977. Many years later, I was surprised to learn that this visit was for him «the reason» for a life choice: to become an artist. 

Had he seen a sign of encouragement in some shape or color or line? Still, he introduced me into his biography. So much so that the staff of the Whitney Museum borrowed my painting Central Park (1965) from me for his retrospective in 1997. Twenty years earlier, the artist had been struck by the work at the Carnegie Museum of Art, my first with «marginal remarks». Keith had wanted that to be known. 

Having become famous, he came to see me. 

Studio visit in the company of an editor… whose name I have forgotten. Sometimes, often, now more and more, my memory is fading, as Jeanne Moreau sang in the sixties. 

               Stop ! 

We are in 2022. I am ninety-five years old. My old brain tells me that it has just found a scrap of memory. On the port side: we recognize K.H. in P.A.’s workshop in Bougival in 1984. He offers a t-shirt decorated with his hand. To starboard: we see P.A. dedicating to K.H. a Chinese ink work on writings from another era. 

 

Keith Haring avait 19 ans lorsqu’il visita, à Pittsburgh, la rétrospective du quinquagénaire que je devenais en 1977. Bien des années plus tard, j’ai eu la surprise d’apprendre que cette visite fut pour lui la «cause occasionnelle» d’un choix de vie: devenir artiste. 

Avait-t-il vu un signe d’encouragement dans je ne sais quelle forme, couleur ou ligne? Toujours est-il qu’il m’introduisit dans sa biographie. Tant et si bien que le staff du Whitney Museum m’emprunta Central Park pour sa rétrospective en 1997. Vingt ans plus tôt, l’artiste avaitété frappé au Carnegie Museum of Art par mon premier tableau de 1965 «remarques marginale». Keith avait tenu à ce que cela se sache.

Devenu célèbre, il vint me voir. 

            Visite d’atelier en compagnie d’un éditeur… dont j’ai oublié le nom. Parfois, souvent, à présent de plus en plus, j’ai la mémoire qui flanche, comme chantait Jeanne Moreau dans les années soixante.

Stop ! 

Nous sommes en 2022. J’ai quatre-vingt quinze ans. Ma vieille cervelle me signale qu’elle vient de retrouver une bribe de souvenir. À babord: on reconnaît K.H. dans l’atelier de P.A. à Bougival en 1984.  Il lui offre un t-shirtorné de sa main. À tribord: on aperçoit P.A. dédicaçant à K.H. une encre de Chine sur des écritures d’une autre époque.

Pierre Alechinsky                    

9 Février 2022

Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And

Lorraine O’Grady is a conceptual artist and cultural critic.  The exhibition, Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And, opening this week at the Brooklyn Museum, is the first retrospective of over four decades of work.  Her work often explores the ways in which hybridity has shaped the modern Western world.

In 1983, O’Grady invited 28 artists, 14 of whom were Black and 14 white, to participate in her exhibition and conceptual art piece, The Black and White Show, including Keith Haring.  The exhibition was a response to the intransigent segregation of the art world, and its purpose was to materialize equality.

The exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum highlights O’Grady’s long engagement with art historical omissions and institutional failings related to those excluded from the canon.

Learn more about the work of Lorraine O’Grady, and visit the exhibition Lorraine O’Grady: Both/And at the Brooklyn Museum, open March 5 through July 18, 2021.

Stonewall 50 and NYC Pride

Stonewall

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, which began the morning of June 28, 1969, when New York City police raided the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar on Christopher Street.  Among the working-class patrons who refused to be arrested quietly were the transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson and the gay artist Thomas Lanigan-Schmidt. The confrontation spilled out into the street in protests and violent clashes; the riots continued for days, marking a turning point in the fight for queer civil rights.

A number of  New York City institutions are hosting exhibitions about the Stonewall Uprising.  Art after Stonewall, 1969–1989, is an exhibition across two venues, the Grey Art Gallery and the Leslie-Lohman Museum of Gay and Lesbian ArtStonewall 50 at the New-York Historical Society; and Nobody Promised You Tomorrow: Art 50 Years After Stonewall at the Brooklyn Museum, to list just a few.  Learn more about the Uprising by visiting these and the many other organizations hosting exhibitions and events in NYC.

Coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising, is New York City Pride Month, which culminates this weekend with the celebratory NYC Pride March this Sunday, June 30th, at Noon.  The Queer Liberation March, also on Sunday, steps off at 9:30 a.m., and seeks to be a more somber and inclusive march, casting a critical eye towards corporate pinkwashing.  To learn more about the Queer Liberation March, read its Why We March statement.  Both marches are free to attend and welcoming to all.

Happy Pride!

Keith Haring at Gladstone Gallery

Gladstone Gallery announcement

Gladstone Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of paintings and works on paper by Keith Haring, all created between 1987 and 1989. These exquisite and surprising compositions, some of which are being exhibited for the first time, capture Haring’s invented version of reality that defined his artistic career. Astutely employing popular culture, sexual imagery, and religious iconography, the collages and large-scale paintings on view offer a deeply personal andcritically important narrative, while simultaneously providing rare examples of works created during the last years of Haring’s life.

The exhibition will be on view at Gladstone Gallery, 515 West 24th Street, from November 3, 2018 through December 21, 2018.

Keith Haring: Apocalypse at Pace Prints

Apocalypse

We are excited to announce Apocalypse, an exhibition of limited edition prints highlighting the collaborations between Keith Haring, William Burroughs and Brion Gysin at Pace Prints 521 West 26th Street Gallery.  The exhibition also features archival material from the Haring Foundation archives that documents the background and relationships from which these works were created.

William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Keith Haring, Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi, 1985 © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York
William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Keith Haring, Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi, 1985 © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York

Pace Prints Apocalypse

An opening reception will be held on Thursday, November 1, from 6-8pm.  The exhibition is on view through December 21, 2018.

We ♥ John Giorno

Ugo Rondinone: I ♥ John Giorno is a citywide exhibition presenting the work and life of poet, artist, and activist, John Giorno, which opened this week in venues across Manhattan.  Giorno, an iconic figure of New York’s downtown art scene, is perhaps most widely-known for his Dial-a-Poem phone line where anyone could call in and listen to poets, musicians, and activists performing their works.  The Dial-a-Poem line has been reprised for this exhibition and can be reached by calling (641) 793-8122.

While still a student, Keith Haring was heavily influenced by the work of John Giorno and other innovative poets and writers, like William Burroughs and Brion Gysin.  Keith wrote about this inspiration his journals, most notably in a piece he titled “A Chunk Called Poetry,” which can be read on our Tumblr on journal pages 62-67.  Later, Keith would collaborate with many of these artists.  Below is an album cover Keith created for a 1985 record compilation issued by Giorno Poetry Systems titled,  A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse, which included such artists as Sonic Youth, Hüsker Dü, Diamanda Galás, and Coil.

Ugo Rondinone: I ♥ John Giorno is open now and runs through August 6, 2017.  For more information and a list of participating venues visit http://www.ilovejohngiorno.nyc

 

A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse
A Diamond Hidden in the Mouth of a Corpse
Keith Haring, Willliam Burroughs, and John Giorno in Kansas, 1987
Keith Haring, Willliam Burroughs, and John Giorno in Kansas. Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi, 1987 © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc., New York

Party Out of Bounds: Nightlife as Activism Since 1980

A NIGHT AT DANCETERIA (Ethyl Eichelberger, Keith Haring, Cookie Mueller & John Sex), Danceteria, NYC 1984.  Photo by Joseph Modica
A NIGHT AT DANCETERIA (Ethyl Eichelberger, Keith Haring, Cookie Mueller & John Sex), Danceteria, NYC 1984. Photo by Joseph Modica

Visual AIDS presents the exhibition Party Out of Bounds: Nightlife as Activism Since 1980 opening September 18th at La MaMa Galleria.

The exhibition focuses on the intersection of the ongoing HIV/AIDS crisis and nightlife from the 1980s to the present, and showcases the transformative possibilities of nightlife as an alternative form of activism.  Featuring artists and collaborators working in a wide variety of mediums including photography, video, painting, sculpture, drawing and site-specific installations, Party Out Of Bounds presents both past and present nightlife scenes. The exhibition also highlights archival materials including flyers by Keith Haring and David Wojnarowicz, and ephemera from clubs that merged activism, art, performance and parties.

Visual AIDS is a not-for-profit arts organization that utilizes art to fight AIDS by provoking dialogue, supporting HIV+ artists and preserving a legacy, because AIDS is not over.  Visit the Visual AIDS website to learn more about this exhibition and all of the other amazing work that they do.

Exhibition information can also be found on the La MaMa website – another incredible and storied not-for-profit cultural organization.

The exhibition runs through October 10th.

The Broad, opening soon!

Philanthropists Eli and Edythe Broad have long been supporters of the arts, and have built a new home for their collection of post-war and contemporary art, which includes the work of Keith Haring. The Broad opens on September 20th entrance to the museum is free.

Read Holland Cotter’s recent review of The Broad in the NY Times here. Visit The Broad website to learn more about it’s collection and it’s mission to expand access to, and engagement with, contemporary art.

Keith Haring, Untitled, 1984
A Haring work from The Broad collection

Happy Birthday, Marcel Duchamp!

Photo by Yves Arman
Photo by Yves Arman

Marcel Duchamp was born on July 28, 1887.  This photo shows Keith sitting outside of the North Wing Pediment of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.  The rectangle outlined in silver above Keith’s head is the window to the Duchamp Gallery.  Not part of the original building, the window was created at the request of Marcel Duchamp as part of his directed placement for his work The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors, Even (The Large Glass).   Learn more about this work and the amazing Duchamp collection housed at the Philadelphia Museum of Art here.

The Rise of Sneaker Culture

Keith Haring painting the Berlin Wall
Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi, 1986 © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc.

Keith Haring loved sneakers and wore them everywhere, all the time, whether working with Grace Jones for her performance at the Paradise Garage in 1985, or painting the Berlin Wall in 1986. We know he would be psyched to see The Rise of Sneaker Culture at the Brooklyn Museum, which opens today and runs through October 4. It looks amazing! To learn more about the exhibition visit the Brooklyn Museum website and be sure to see the show.

Keith haring and Grace Jones
Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc.