When STUN asked me to write an article on Keith Haring, I said, ‘Why write about an American artist who died in the 1990s and only visited Australia once?’ The editor replied, ‘His work is important because he is still being exhibited and people need to know about this amazing gay artist.’ ‘Great!’ I said. I’ve always admired his work.
Curious and queer, dorky and deep, Keith Haring was a rebel with a cause, with a try, do and know everything appetite. He was a graffiti artist, designer, painter and sculptor but more importantly, an art activist for human rights that captured the attention of all ages, genders and cultures. His colourful cartoon figures are loaded with social/political and sexual references where he breaks the mould and stigmatisation of being a sexually active gay man, exploring his gay identity in ways that would influence his art.
“All those little abstract shapes I was doing became completely phallic. It was a way of asserting my sexuality and forcing other people to deal with it.”
Keith Haring worked with an overpowering intensity. By day he was a highly disciplined artist. By night he was cocaine-fuelled; cruising for sex at gay bars and bathhouses for promiscuous fuck action. The 1980s was a time of sexual discovery for gay men and Haring felt liberated to express himself freely from the constraints of his conservative Christian upbringing.
“I’m glad I’m different. I’m proud to be gay. I’m proud to have friends and lovers of every colour.”
Hip hop music, breakdancing, street art and graffiti all inspired Haring because they were elements of provocation, anti-establishment and the voice of the people. Haring would paint while listening to the latest hip hop music and to the rhythm of the beats.
“Breakdancing was a real inspiration so my drawings began having figures spinning on their heads, twisting around.”
Haring gained street credibility for his relentless efforts to tag New York’s subways with chalk drawings and his ‘Crack is Wack’ mural, which led to his arrest for vandalising public property. He caused a stir within a contemporary art gallery scene that debated if his work was art but this didn’t bother Haring because he wanted to make art accessible for the people, not for the establishment.
“I’m glad there’s resistance because it gives me something to fight against. Everything I’ve ever tried to do was to cut through all that bullshit.”
In 1984, Haring was asked to create works for both the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) and the Art Gallery of NSW. In Melbourne, he painted the glass entrance window at the NGV. A documentary was made by The Australian Film School and the film seems to provoke and almost insult Haring about his work. Haring was criticised because his work was considered an appropriation of Aboriginal art. ‘Who does this American artist think he is coming to Australia and copying Aboriginal art?’ some said. The installation was vandalised by a protester who threw a rock at the artwork and smashed a hole in the glass wall and the racist irony cannot go unnoticed: this was the era when Australian tourist shops sold Aboriginal souvenirs such as tea towels, boomerangs and didgeridoos.
While in Melbourne, Haring was also asked to paint a 7×11-metre mural on the Collingwood Technical School wall but they had no funds and so Haring generously painted the wall for free. The Collingwood mural had deteriorated over time and was vandalised until a group of gay activists (THORN) in 1994 rallied the council to conserve the artwork. In 2010 it was restored and it’s maintained as an important work of art today. He made other artworks in Melbourne too but, sadly, no trace of them exist.
“I like the idea of things lasting longer than you last and being somewhere where lots of people can see them.”
Haring went onto Sydney and painted a huge mural on the inside walls of the Art Gallery of NSW and again was criticised for the symbols that resemble Aboriginal dot paintings. Haring was not happy with his treatment in Australia.
“On the whole, the Australian experience was not that hot. The guy who sponsored the whole trip just ripped me off. We never heard from him again and he never paid me for the artworks.”
Haring returned to New York and was at the peak of his career, opening Pop Shop where he made T-shirts, badges and other merchandise. Andy Warhol was inspired by Haring’s street pop-art provocations and supported him through his philanthropic generosity and introduced him to New York’s creative elite: Haring collaborated with Grace Jones, Madonna, Yoko Ono, William Burroughs, Tim Leary, Roy Lichtenstein and others.
He was in high demand across the USA and was offered commissions worldwide including a 300-foot mural for the Berlin Wall, a mural on the Church of Saint Antonio in Italy, a public sculpture in Dusseldorf in Germany, the ‘Ten Commandments’ art installation in London and a mural on the Necker Children’s Hospital and the side of a Zeppelin blimp, both in Paris.
When he was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, Haring openly commented on his sexual promiscuity and the epidemic. He used his illness as a means to inform others of unsafe sex and fought for gay rights. He established The Keith Haring Foundation to support AIDS research and created a series of works that addressed the epidemic, drug abuse and the struggles of the LGBTQIA+ community. His Act Up and Fight AIDS artwork, ‘Ignorance = Fear / Silence = Death’ caught the attention of health services and was used to bring attention to the epidemic with safe sex and safe drug use campaigns. However, this was when AIDS was a global epidemic and tragically Keith Haring died at the age of 31 in 1990 from AIDS-related complications.
Like many great artists who break the mould, Haring was criticised by the establishments who then benefit from their artwork post-mortem. He expected this and said:
“I do believe that it will happen later – when I’m not here to appreciate it.”
So you’re right, STUN! Keith Haring’s artwork is of great importance and value. He is still being honoured for his contribution as an art activist who brought attention to the AIDS crisis, drug abuse, racism, apartheid and the LGBTQIA+ community. Haring was a trailblazer who paved his way amongst institutions and sneering art peers who now revere him as a great contemporary artist.
Want more? Read about Keith Haring’s visit to Australia at https://melbourneharingmural.com.au/australia and watch ‘After Hours Keith Haring in Australia 1984’ (full length) at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etNqVpjOIL8
