To this day, Keith Haring’s (1958 – 1990) work can be seen everywhere: from teacups and colouring books in museum shops to trainers and T-shirts at H&M. Haring wanted his art to be accessible to the widest possible audience. In his short life, he left thousands of works, from album covers to metre-high murals. He even provided the drab Berlin Wall with a colourful peace collage.
Haring developed his high work tempo in New York underground stations, where he had to be alert due to danger of arrest. During the crisis years in the early 1980s, many billboards in the corridors and platforms remained unused. The framed rectangles shielded by black paper provided the ideal background for Haring’s white chalk drawings. In the underground corridors, he thus created his own recognisable style. Recurring elements were: barking dogs, flying saucers, crawling babies and dancing people. Music was the fuel that got his creative engine going. Haring was a jazz, soul and hip-hop lover; in his studio and on the street, his ghetto blaster was always within reach.
Not only metro travellers recognised his work after a while, even renowned New York gallery owner Tony Shafrazi saw potential in Haring’s street art. As early as the first official exhibition at Shafrazi’s Gallery in 1983, artistic advisor Pierre Keller of the Montreux Jazz Festival asked if Haring would be willing to design a festival poster. The prolific artist painted it in no less than three different versions.
Haring’s colourful posters became real eye-catchers in Montreux. The improvised dancing figures exuded exactly the atmosphere that characterised this multicultural jazz festival. Haring also visited the Swiss city on the lake of Geneva in person. Armed with brush and paint pot, he entered the stage, where he got carried away by the music of Pino Daniela while rhythmically painting the theatre panels.
Singer, actress and model Grace Jones introduced the artist to Paradise Garage, a Manhattan club frequented by people from African-American backgrounds. Much earlier than in other nightlife venues, progressive DJs were creating interesting musical crossovers there. Haring was so enthusiastic about the open atmosphere that he painted the walls of the club and also offered to design the weekly flyers.
Talking was Haring’s performance in which he painted Grace Jones’ body. Beforehand, he studied photos of Masai men drawing white stripes across their skin. After finishing, Haring called Jones ‘a work of art incarnate’.
In 1986, the Montreux Jazz Festival once again invited the artist to design a poster, this time in collaboration with pop art godfather Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987). When Pierre Keller travelled to America on the agreed date to see the result the canvas turned out to be completely empty yet. In haste, Warhol was called in to paint a few staves where Haring added his men dancing ‘on the spot’ in between. This design was also given to Keller in three colour variations. On the way back, the artistic advisor discovered that the stunningly beautiful paintings had not yet been signed. A day later, Warhol and Haring sent him their signatures after all.
When Haring was told in 1987 that he was infected with the AIDS virus, which at the time amounted to a death sentence, he switched to an even faster pace. His legacy consists of many seemingly naive pictures in which he portrayed essential topics such as racism, war, sex, life and death. Powerfully and light-heartedly at the same time.
