Keith Haring

This piece has become iconic in the city.  It is viewed by anyone that is heading into the Moscone Convention Center.

Keith Haring is controversial on his best days. Which is sad because he was a truly gifted artist who was passionate about facing up to discrimination of all types, and gave of himself freely to charitable work, children’s issues and causes he felt powerful about.

The first time he had a showing at SFMOMA, this was the sign that stood outside:

IMPORTANT PARENTAL ADVISORY:Some of these exhibitions contain artwork of a sexually explicit nature that is not appropriate for children and that some people may find offensive. We recommend that children have restricted access.

He became a household name through his New York subway art, depicting the essence of the figures above.  Born in 1958 he died of AIDS in 1990.  He established a foundation before his death that holds tight reins on his work and makes sure profits go to AIDS awareness and education.  His full biography can be read here (text only).

The pieces are painted steel. It is untitled, but is often referred to as Three Dancing Figures. The piece, originally done in 1989 was purchased and installed by the city in 2001 with art enrichment funds generated by the expansion of the Moscone Convention Center. The purchase came on the heels of a successful 1998 retrospective of Haring’s work at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Thanks to a $65,00 grant from the Haring Foundation the piece had a full restoration in 2012.

During another retrospective of Haring at the DeYoung (November 2014 – Februay 2015)  The guest curator Dieter Buchart, summed up Haring very nicely in his statement ” “Haring understood that art was for everybody—he fought for the individual and against dictatorship, racism and capitalism. He was no utopian, but he had a dream that ‘nothing is an end, because it always can be the basis for something new and different.”.

At the DeYoung exhibit a film titled The Universe of Keith Haring by filmmaker Christina Clausen runs in the Koret Auditorium, and is worth the time to view.  It was filmed in 2008 using archival film from Haring’s lifetime.