Keith Haring Diboll Gallery Exhibit Catalog

From the collection of Mr. Stuart H. Smith and Mr. Barry J. Cooper, Jr.November 5, 2009 – January 29, 2010Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery

KEITH HARING: A Print Retrospective

1982 – 1990

BEST BUDDIES, 1990, Silkscreen 26”x32”

15-609 Keith Haring Catalog 10/14/09 2:49 PM Page 1


KEITH HARING: A Print Retrospective

1982 – 1990

From the collection of Mr. Stuart H. Smith and Mr. Barry J. Cooper, Jr.

November 5, 2009 – January 29, 2010

Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery

Loyola University New Orleans

Mr. Stuart H. Smith, J.D. ’86 and Mr. Barry J. Cooper, Jr., M.B.A. ’94, J.D. ’00 began collecting Keith Haring's work in 1997 when they moved into their residence in the New Orleans French Quarter. They continue to add to this collection today.

We are honored to present a portion of this extensive collection in the Collins C. Diboll Art Gallery at Loyola University New Orleans.

This exhibition is supported byThe John Burton Harter Charitable Trust

All images © The Keith Haring Foundation


Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958, in Reading,Pennsylvania, and was raised in nearby Kutztown,Pennsylvania. He developed a love for drawing at a veryearly age, learning basic cartooning skills from his fatherand from the popular culture around him, such as Dr. Seussand Walt Disney.

Upon graduation from high school in 1976, Haringenrolled in the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh,a commercial arts school. He soon realized that he hadlittle interest in becoming a commercial graphic artist and,after two semesters, dropped out. While in Pittsburgh,Haring continued to study and work on his own, and in1978, had a solo exhibition of his work at the PittsburghArts and Crafts Center.

Later that same year, Haring moved to New York Cityand enrolled in the School of Visual Arts (SVA). In NewYork, Haring found a thriving alternative art communitythat was developing outside the gallery and museumsystem, in the downtown streets, the subways, and spacesin clubs and former dance halls. Here he became friendswith fellow artists Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat,as well as the musicians, performance artists, and graffitiwriters that comprised the burgeoning art community.Haring was swept up in the energy and spirit of this sceneand began to organize and participate in exhibitions andperformances at Club 57 and other alternative venues.

In addition to being impressed by the innovation andenergy of his contemporaries, Haring was also inspired bythe work of Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, WilliamBurroughs, Brion Gysin, and Robert Henri’s manifesto TheArt Spirit, which asserted the fundamental independenceof the artist. With these influences Haring was able to pushhis own youthful impulses toward a singular kind of graphicexpression based on the primacy of the line. Also drawn to

the public and participatory nature of Christo’s work, inparticular Running Fence, and by Andy Warhol’s uniquefusion of art and life, Haring was determined to devote hiscareer to creating a truly public art.

As a student at SVA, Haring experimented withperformance, video, installation, and collage, while alwaysmaintaining a strong commitment to drawing. In 1980,Haring found a highly effective medium that allowed himto communicate with the wider audience he desired, whenhe noticed the unused advertising panels covered withmatte black paper in a subway station. He began to createdrawings in white chalk upon these blank paper panelsthroughout the subway system. Between 1980 and 1985,Haring produced hundreds of these public drawings inrapid rhythmic lines, sometimes creating as many as 40“subway drawings” in one day. This seamless flow ofimages became familiar to New York commuters, whooften would stop to engage the artist when theyencountered him at work. The subway became, as Haringsaid, a “laboratory” for working out his ideas andexperimenting with his simple lines.

Between 1980 and 1989, Haring achievedinternational recognition and participated in numerousgroup and solo exhibitions. His first solo exhibition in NewYork was held at the Westbeth Painters Space in 1981. In1982, he made his Soho gallery debut with an immenselypopular and highly acclaimed one-man exhibition at theTony Shafrazi Gallery. During this period, he alsoparticipated in renowned international survey exhibitionssuch as Documenta 7 in Kassel; the São Paulo Biennial;and the Whitney Biennial. Haring completed numerouspublic projects in the first half of the 80s as well, rangingfrom an animation for the Spectacolor billboard in TimesSquare, designing sets and backdrops for theaters and

KEITH HARING1958 – 1990

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clubs, developing watch designs for Swatch, and anadvertising campaign for Absolut vodka; and creatingmurals worldwide.

In April 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop, a retailstore in Soho selling T-shirts, toys, posters, buttons, andmagnets bearing his images. Haring considered the shopto be an extension of his work and painted the entireinterior of the store in an abstract black on white mural,creating a striking and unique retail environment. Theshop was intended to allow people greater access to hiswork, which was now readily available on products at alow cost. The shop received criticism from many in the artworld, however Haring remained committed to his desireto make his artwork available to as wide an audience aspossible, and received strong support for his project fromfriends, fans, and mentors including Andy Warhol.

Throughout his career, Haring devoted much of histime to public works, which often carried socialmessages. He produced more than 50 public artworksbetween 1982 and 1989, in dozens of cities around theworld, many of which were created for charities,hospitals, children’s day care centers, and orphanages.The now famous Crack is Wack mural of 1986 hasbecome a landmark along New York’s FDR Drive. Otherprojects include: a mural created for the 100thanniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, on whichHaring worked with 900 children; a mural on the exteriorof Necker Children’s Hospital in Paris, France in 1987;and a mural painted on the western side of the BerlinWall three years before its fall. Haring also held drawingworkshops for children in schools and museums in NewYork, Amsterdam, London, Tokyo, and Bordeaux, andproduced imagery for many literacy programs and otherpublic service campaigns.

Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988. In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, its mandatebeing to provide funding and imagery to AIDSorganizations and children’s programs, and to expandthe audience for Haring’s work through exhibitions,publications, and the licensing of his images. Haringenlisted his imagery during the last years of his life tospeak about his own illness and generate activism andawareness about AIDS.

During a brief but intense career that spanned the1980s, Haring’s work was featured in more than 100 soloand group exhibitions. In 1986 alone, he was the subjectof more than 40 newspaper and magazine articles. Hewas highly sought after to participate in collaborativeprojects, and worked with artists and performers asdiverse as Madonna, Grace Jones, Bill T. Jones, William Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono, and Andy Warhol. By expressing universalconcepts of birth, death, love, sex, and war, using aprimacy of line and directness of message, Haring wasable to attract a wide audience and assure theaccessibility and staying power of his imagery, which has become a universally recognized visual language of the 20th century.

Haring died of AIDS related complications at the age of 31 on February 16, 1990. A memorial service washeld on May 4, 1990, at the Cathedral of St. John theDivine in New York City, with more than 1,000 people in attendance.

Since his death, Haring has been the subject ofseveral international retrospectives. The work of KeithHaring can be seen today in the exhibitions andcollections of major museums around the world.

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Keith Haring biography and images courtesy and © The Keith Haring Foundation


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ANDY MOUSE, 1986Silkscreen 38”x38”


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UNTITLED 1, 1985 Lithograph, 32”x40”


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UNTITLED 2, 1985 Lithograph, 32”x40”


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UNTITLED 3, 1985 Lithograph

32”x40”


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LUCKY STRIKE, 1987Silkscreen11½” x 8¼”


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RETROSPECT, 1989Silkscreen46”x82”


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UNTITLED, 1983Silkscreen 42”x50”


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SILENCE = DEATH, 1989Silkscreen39”x39”


THE BLUEPRINT DRAWINGS, 1990Silkscreen 42.5”x60”

The eight images from the Blueprintseries presented in this catalog are a

portion of the entire series.

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THE BLUEPRINT DRAWINGS, 1990Silkscreen 42.5”x46.5”


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John Burton Harter (1940 – 2002)

John Burton Harter, known to his friends as Burt, was born in Jackson, Mississippi, on October 7, 1940. The son of a surgeon and a journalist, he grew up in Louisville, Kentucky.He studied at the University of Louisville, Kentucky; LouisianaState University, and Hanover College, Indiana. Post-graduatestudies led Harter on a global journey to the University ofPennsylvania in Philadelphia; the prestigious HebrewUniversity in Jerusalem; the University of Vienna in Austria,and Arizona State University. Moving in the late 1960s to NewOrleans, Harter, an art historian, made his career in themuseum world, starting at the Historic New OrleansCollection and ending as curator of collections at theLouisiana State Museum, before retiring in 1991.

Harter’s body of work consists of more than 3,000paintings, watercolors, and photographs. Most works werecreated between 1960 and the artist’s untimely death in NewOrleans in 2002. Harter was especially known for his keeninterpretation of gay sensibility, including his most personalcreation of an AIDS wall, a tribute to more than 50 friendswho died of AIDS.

Harter's works are part of the collections of the NewOrleans Museum of Art; the Louisiana State Museum in NewOrleans; the Historic New Orleans Collection; the Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation in New York; and numerousother public and private collections.

The John Burton Harter Charitable Trust was establishedin 2002 and aims to preserve, publish, and exhibit the artist’swork in addition to funding scholarships and exhibitionsrelating to the art of John Burton Harter.

Image courtesy of Historic New Orleans Collection




Documents

Keith Haring Diboll Gallery Exhibit Catalog