Keith Hearing exhibition at Brooklyn Museum in NYC, Photo: October 4, 2011
"Keith Haring at Brooklyn Museum" by pandemia is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
"Andy's life and work made my work possible. Andy set the precedent for the possibility for my art to exist. He was the first real public artist in a holistic sense, and his art and life changed the concept we have of 'art and life' in the 20th century. He was the first real 'modern artist."
– Keith Haring
Keith Haring’s Journal, February, 1987
Despite the thirty year difference in age Andy Warhol (1928–1987) and Keith Haring (1958–1990) had a lot in common: they were bot raised in religious families in Philadelphia, they both moved to New York when they were about twenty (although Haring moved there thirty years after Warhol). Both Haring and Warhol thrived in New York’s art and music club scene in the 1980s, where graffiti, discos, New Wave, hip-hop, vogueing and MTV brought people together.
Warhol arrived in New York in 1949. He quickly became one of the most successful commercial artists in the city and then went on to become one of the most successful artists in the world.
In 1978, almost thirty years later, Keith Haring arrived in New York. His artistic career began in the subways, where he painted his now iconic images, in chalk, on blank subway advertising spaces.
The two artists met in 1982, when Warhol went to see one of Haring’s shows at the Shafrazi Gallery. Over the next five years, until Warhol’s death in 1987, the two artists collaborated and even featured each other in their work.
Warhol became a mentor to Haring, who believed that art should be available to all. “Andy practically convinced me to open the Pop Shop when I started to get cold feet… " Haring wrote in his journal. “He further showed his support for the Pop Shop by creating a T-shirt for it and plugging it at any opportunity.”
The works of both artists are currently on display, together, at the Museum Brandhorst in Munich. The Brandhorst has the largest Warhol collection in Europe with more than 120 works, as well as a growing collection of Haring’s works. The title of the show, Andy Warhol & Keith Haring. Party of Life is taken from a phrase that Haring used to describe birthday parties. The show includes works done individually and jointly by both artists as well as works by artists, performers, authors, graffiti writers and music and fashion icons of the time, including Richard Avedon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, William S. Burroughs, Fab 5 Freddy, Futura, Grace Jones, LA II, Madonna, Robert Mapplethorpe, Yoko Ono, Kenny Scharf, and many more.
Andy Warhol & Keith Haring. Party of Life will be on exhibit at the Museum Brandhorst through January 26, 2025.
Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring available at Surovek Gallery.
References:
Cat Dawson. Is Anything Subversive About Warhol’s Idealized Male? Hyperallergic. September 12, 2024.
Sabrina Cooper. ‘Party of Life’ Is a Celebration of Warhol, Haring and 1980s New York City in Munich. The Observer. September 27, 2024.
David Slader. Warhol and the Supreme Court, Part 2: The new problem. Oregon Artswatch. September 24, 2024.
Isabella De Souza. Keith Haring & Andy Warhol: A Friendship That Shaped Pop Art. MyArtBroker. November 24, 2023.
