Keith Haring created some of the most incendiary art of the last century. A legend on the New York City art scene of the 1980s, and a contemporary of Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, since his death from AIDS in 1990, Haring’s colourful forms of expressionism have grown from cult insider status, to perhaps the world’s most recognised and renowned iconography of the AIDS crisis.
From his infamous Crack Is Wack mural, to his anti-apartheid posters, Haring often rejected the traditional artist-gallery format, opting for more guerrilla style exhibitions for his politically-charged work. Though much has changed in the world since then, and HIV/AIDS no longer as much of a threat in NYC, a lot of the themes Haring’s explored — opioid addiction, racism, police brutality, environmental damage, war — remain as present and urgent as ever. An expansive retrospective, then, couldn’t be more welcome.
The eponymous show at the Tate Liverpool looks to examine this pivotal moment in activism and art. Running 14 June to 10 November 2019, the exhibition will be Haring’s first major UK retrospective and will include over 85 different works by the artist, as well as archival documents, video and photographs, much of which has never been seen in the UK before.
Tate Liverpool Director Helen Legg said of the news, “Keith Haring and Liverpool have much in common. They’re both politically engaged with a history of activism, a strong sense of social justice and a love of music and fashion. Tate Liverpool is proud to be bringing this major exhibition and reassessment of Keith Haring to the city.”
