KEITH HARING - Life as a drawing
26 August - 28 October 2007

Keith Haring, Untitled 11-Aug-81 1981, schwarzer Filzstift auf Papier, 50,8 x 66 cm © Estate of Keith Haring	Keith Haring, Hee! Hee! Hee! (Self-Portrait), 1-Nov-85, 1985, Sumi-Tusche auf Papier, 55,88 x 73,66 cm © Estate of Keith Haring

The American artist Keith Haring (1958 – 1990) is considered to be one of the young rebels within the Pop Art Movement which spread from New York in the early 60s and which reached new heights in the 80s. Keith Haring grew up in an age dominated by the media and consumerism and lived through enormous social and political changes in American society.

He conveyed these circumstances through his often large sized drawings and pictures covering the blank advertising panels of the underground, walls of houses and churches. Rather than lock himself in a studio to work, he would go out on the streets and to public places to draw for all the world to see. This soon earned him tremendous popularity.

He soon became the idol of the youth whom he stood up for, throughout his short life. Keith Haring died when he was only 31 years old as a result of AIDS.

It is the line, the contour, which has become his hallmark. Formally reduced to the essential, Haring was aiming at a high degree of legibility and comprehensibility in his works, even when passing them quickly. The shape becomes a figure, a clear icon, which Keith Haring consistently took up, varied and put into new contexts with inexhaustible fantasy, thus subjecting it to mutations.

Keith Haring always drew spontaneously, being inspired by the moment. He understood the drawing as one continuous line and used the figures developing from it as modules thus reaching his general comprehensibility. Like several artists of his generation, e.g. Jean-Michel Basquiat or Freddy Mercury, Keith Haring died of AIDS. In his last two years, which were affected by hope and despair, he devoted all his drawing strength in showing the severity of such topics as AIDS and drugs. Towards the end of his life he invested a huge part of his energy in charitable organisations, especially for the support of children, and handed down his lifework to a foundation named after himself.

The exhibition at the Ludwig Museum in Koblenz mainly concentrates on the drawings of Keith Haring and also presents a corpus of unknown works which have never been shown before. In principle all works of Haring are drawings, in this case however, the material and with it the surface it is on comes to the fore. The drawings did not have a cabinet character for Haring; frequently, they come into our field of vision solely in the dimension of large size. These are also to be shown in Koblenz along with a rich documentation of photographs.

The concept of the exhibition is developed together with The Estate of Keith Haring in New York (see also www.haring.com), which is also expected to provide the majority of the loan collection. This will be complemented by several other lenders from Europe. The exhibition will be accompanied by a special catalogue, containing scientific articles of noted art historians, which will be published in German and English.

Keith Haring, Untitled, 1985, Schwarzer Stift auf Paier, 57,5 x 77,5 cm, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Paris	Keith Haring, AIDS, 1985, Acryl auf Leinwand, 200 x 200 cm, Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen, Sammlung Ludwig	Keith Haring, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Femme Hiver 1990-1991, 1990, Sumi-Tusche auf Paier, 63,5 x 63,5 cm, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Paris
Keith Haring, Untitled June 5 – 1983, 183,5 x 325 cm © Estate of Keith Haring	Keith Haring, Untitled 2-Sep-80, Sprühfarbe und schwarze Tusche auf, 113 x 138,43 cm © Estate of Keith Haring	Keith Haring, Untitled 22-Sep-80, 1980, Sumi-Tusche auf Bristol Karton, 50,8 x 65,4 cm © Estate of Keith Haring