New Brooklyn Museum Exhibition Explores Keith Haring's Formative Years

Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990) Untitled, 1980 Ink on orange paper 36 x 35 1/2 in. (91.4 x 90.2 cm) Collection Keith Haring Foundation. © Keith Haring Foundation

Lots of amazing stuff was happening in New York City between 1978 and 1982—punk rock, the explosion of hip-hop, Woody Allen's Manhattan and the emergence of The Kitchen as an avant-garde arts hub (just to name a few.) Right in the middle of that perfect storm of creative culture was a young Keith Haring, who moved to the city in 1978 at the age of 19 to study at the School of Visual Arts.

Keith Haring: 1978–1982, which opens March 16 at the Brooklyn Museum, explores the development of Haring's artistic style and language during that period through more than 300 pieces, ranging from works on paper and experimental videos to sketchbooks, exhibition flyers and subway drawings. The exhibition includes some of Haring's earliest works, which will be on public display for the first time.

During his first few years in New York, Haring befriended fellow artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kenny Sharf. In 1980 he began creating the iconic figurative drawings that would populate his art for the rest of the decade, until his death in 1990. He also organized performances and exhibitions by other artists, often staging them in unusual and temporary locations. The exhibition highlights that curatorial work through his flyers for such events, such as the one you'll find after the jump below.

"Keith has always stood outside the art world, because his art is the people's art," Yoko Ono said in Haring's biography. "In that way, he is like a record producer of pop music—of groups whose songs reach out to the people. John Lennon did that, and the Beatles did that in the sixties. Keith is doing exactly the same thing, and that’s why he communicates on such a big level."

Keith Haring: 1978-1982 opens Friday, March 16 and will be on view through July 8.

Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990) Flyer for Des Refusés at Westbeth Painters Space, New York City, February 10, 1981. Acrylic and ink on paper. Collection Keith Haring Foundation. © Keith Haring Foundation

-- John Ruscher