Tag Archives: exhibition

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

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

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.

Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera

Tseng Kwong Chi
Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi © Muna Tseng Dance Projects, Inc.

We are so excited for the opening of Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera at NYU’s Grey Art Gallery. Tseng Kwong Chi was an amazing photographer and great friend of Keith Haring.  Tseng extensively documented the vibrant downtown art scene of 1980’s New York City, and also created a fascinating and complex body of performative self-portraits addressing themes of social and political identity.  Visit the exhibition website for more information, and be sure to see the show!

If you can’t see the show in New York, the exhibition is traveling to additional venues, see the list here.

Tseng Kwong Chi and Keith Haring
Keith Haring and Tseng Kwong Chi