KEITH A R I N G
ART
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ISM TIV AC
Editors Letter Keith Haring’s art gets very often associated with rather amusing or humorous illustrations. I have only seen this side in his works for a long time. But if you dare to take a closer look, you may as well find some rather negative, sometimes even frightening symbols of topics such as violence, hate and power structure. I find it very inspiring how he can combine these two sides, and I want you to see and experience this too. He’s not only an artist and partyanimal, but also a social activist. That’s why he is an real icon in my eyes.
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ART AS AVTIVISM Though many associate the late artist Keith Haring with his seemingly innocuous images of barking dogs, crawling babies, beating hearts and flying saucers, his work often tackled social justice issues. Always interested in social activism, Haring turned a critical eye to subjects that were on everyone's minds in the 1980s: apartheid in South Africa, the Cold War and the military-industrial complex, HIV/ AIDS, LGBTQ rights. Although his drawings included no words to reflect his political beliefs, the symbolism Haring employed made transparent his feelings about the subjects: dollar signs representing the greed of the gogo decade or mushroom clouds reflecting the artist's feelings toward nuclear disarmament.
These overtly political statements helped the artist garner invitations to create work in cities across Europe, including a mural on the Berlin Wall. The baby, the heart, the barking dog - it looks more like a family ideal but when you really look at the work you suddenly see, wow there is really some power in those works. That’s why Haring is one of the “most political artists of his time.
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FREE sOUTH aFRICA
Free South Africa was a political response to the conditions of apartheid that still existed in South Africa. The black figure is intentionally much larger than the white figure to express the irony of a post-colonial era where a white minority continued to suppress the majority native black population. The use of black lines makes for a sense of dynamic movement of the figures. Black outlines also express a heightened awareness of more psychologically charged elements - like the aura hovering around the restraining collar around the neck of the black figure.
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Popular protest poster campaigns by artists such as Haring, using accessible images that lent themselves to circulation in posters, t-shirts and postcards. combined with world-wide public pressure from celebrities, politicians, and citizens, to raise awareness and influence change in South Africa. This wave of protests eventually led to Nelson Mandela - the lawyer/activist and 30-year prisoner of the South African Government - to be released from jail and elected president. Almost a decade later President Mandela ended apartheid for good in 1994.
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untitled One of his early works, this radiant heart-love motif would show up in many paintings and drawings throughout the rest of his career. This innocent yet controversial image of two men in love is mild in comparison with Haring's later sexually explicit images., but the boldness of representing homosexual love at this point in time was already a significant statement and a marked achievement in the larger cultural realm. As his art career unfolded, and his confidence grew,
it gave him the courage to generate more sexually explicit images of gay figures and scenes. In the above image, two people are depicted in love, with Haring's often-used lines of energy emphasizing this euphoric state as much as the kinetic movement of these figures' bodies in space. This image in many ways distills the optimistic attitude of Haring, who was, at heart, in many ways a Romantic, believing in humanity and the power of love.
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For I am quite aware of the chance that I have or will have AIDS 9
Keith Haring died in New York on February 16, 1990, of AIDS-related complications
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IGNORANCE=FEAR, SILENCE=DEATH This painting’s name is IGNORANCE=FEAR, SILENCE=DEATH, it is really a meaningful painting. There is a famous saying says: “Silence is always golden,” but looking at the bottom of this AIDS awareness picture, it says: “Silence=Death,” it is very clear to see that Keith Haring does not believe silence is golden. Openly gay when it was still considered taboo, he devoted himself to raising awareness of the AIDS crisis (e.g., through the movement ACT UP), when the federal government was slow to act. A professional analysis says: "there are three human figures and each represents a certain type of silence or behavior of ignorance. The left little yellow human figure is covering its eyes, the middle one is covering its ears, and the right one is covering its mouth.
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These three human figures represent the way humans cover their eyes, ears, and mouth and pretend problems like AIDS illness does not exist because they do not accept the truth that they have AIDS and refuse to learn more about it and get involved." Unfortunately, they will have a costly consequence of their ignorance. Look at the three human figures have some little curved black lines bursting around their sides. These black lines seem like the dying urge that those seriously sick persons really want to speak out, listen to, and see the things that are about AIDS.
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Haring's Impact Art for Haring was an immediate response to life, a means of representing its minor and major themes in the frenetic rhythm of our time. It’s devastating that we are still fighting many of the issues that Haring was, almost 30 years after his death. But Haring’s art has created a language of accessibility and optimism within queer and protest art.
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SOURCE LIST NBC News. (2014). Keith Haring, Activist: Artist's Politics on Display in Exhibit. (online) Available at: < https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/keith-haring-activist-artists-politics-display-exhibit-n243866> (Accessed 4 June 2020). BOZAR. Het activisme van Keith Haring. (online). Available at: <https://www.bozar.be/nl/magazine/163343-het-activisme-van-keith-haring> (Accessed 4 June 2020). TS Zhang. (2014) IGNORANCE=FEAR, SILENCE=DEATH. (online). Hudakamericanlit.blogspot.com. Available at: <http://hudakamericanlit.blogspot.com/2014/02/ignorancefear-silencedeath.html> (Accessed 4 June 2020). The Art Story. Keith Haring Artworks & Famous Paintings. The Art Story. (online). Available at: < https://www.theartstory.org/artist/haring-keith/artworks/> (Accessed 4 June 2020). JAOUAD ALLOUL. ‘Ignorance = fear’(1989). De Standaard Mobile. (online). Available at: <https://m.standaard.be/cnt/dmf20200320_04897330>(Accessed 4 June 2020). Masterworksfineart. Keith Haring, Untitled (Plate 2 from Free South Africa Series), 1985, Lithograph (S). (online). Available at: < https://www.masterworksfineart.com/artists/keith-haring/lithograph/ untitled-plate-2-from-free-south-africa-series-1985/id/W-10021>(Accessed 4 June 2020). Deutsche (www.dw.com). (2018). Pop art politics: Activism of Keith Haring | DW | 04.05.2018. DW.COM. (online) Available at: < https://www.dw.com/en/pop-art-politics-activism-of-keith-haring/a-42982923> (Accessed 4 June 2020). Haring.com. Bio | Keith Haring. (online). Available at: < https://www.haring.com/!/about-haring/bio> (Accessed 4 June 2020). Biography.com. (2019). Keith Haring Biography. (online). Available at: < https://www.biography.com/artist/keith-haring> (Accessed 4 June 2020). Chess Bradley. (2019). Celebrating Keith Haring: Why his work is still important - The Mancunion. The Mancunion. (online). Available at: < https://mancunion.com/2019/10/03/celebrating-keith-haring-why-hiswork-is-still-important/> (Accessed 4 June 2020). Keith Haring. Keith Haring Journals. Google Books. (online) Available at: <https://books.google.nl/books?id=PyCzrlNxUp8C&pg=PT182&lpg=PT182&dq=For+I+am+quite+aware +of+the+chance+that+I+have+or+will+have+AIDS.&source=bl&ots=bLkcJDcPla&sig=ACfU3U1F4Kpum SkmwUnlMUEjzNrDxXMJEA&hl=nl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiPrqXz_ufpAhXCC-wKHXmdDYYQ6AEwAHoE CAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=For%20I%20am%20quite%20aware%20 of%20the%20chance%20that% 20I%20have%20or%20will%20have%20AIDS.&f=false> (Accessed 4 June 2020).www.wikiart.org. (2012). The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, 1984 - Keith Haring - WikiArt.org. (online). Available at:< https://www. wikiart.org/en/keith-haring/the-marriage-of-heaven-and-hell-1984> (Accessed 4 June 2020). Kristian Lin. (2019). The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing. Fort Worth Weekly. (online). Available at: < https://www.fwweekly.com/2019/06/19/the-boy-who-just-kept-drawing/> (Accessed 4 June 2020). Götz Adriani (Ed.). (2002). Keith Haring: Heaven and Hell (English) | 2002 | ZKM. Zkm.de (online). Available at: < https://zkm.de/en/publication/keith-haring-heaven-and-hell-english> (Accessed 4 June 2020). Clemence Bodoc. (2013). Keith Haring, the political line » : l’expo à ne pas manquer. madmoiZelle.com. (online). Available at: https://www.madmoizelle.com/keith-haring-expo-173809>
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â&#x20AC;&#x153;I don't think art is propaganda; it should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it. '' - Keith Haring