KEITH HARING: THE POLITICAL LINE

February 14-15th, 2015


Keith Haring.

 Better known as a Pop artist but first as a graffiti artist in the 1980s. His works consist of bold lines, figure drawings and action lines, all arranged in a horror vaccui area, where there is not much empty space. They are drawn with such precision and intuitive in his processes. His figures are repeated in different contexts as a signature figure like the radiant baby, the flying angels and the barking dog.

The Great White Way. November 27, 1968. Acrylic on canvas.
Collection of the Keith Haring Foundation.
DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA.

The Political Line exhibition at the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco is a collection of over a hundred paintings on canvases, tarps, sculptures, pottery, and even a car.  Within the exhibition, they also have provided a bit of primary sources of his in a case of polaroids of him working as well as, journals, physically drawn on dollar bills as well as the advertisement signs with his chalk drawings in it in a separate room to give a darker, underground feel, as if you were in a subway.

100 Dollar Bill.

Keith Haring was into having his work being for a public audiences and them being exposed in public places for the masses to see. He took his work to the streets of New York as well as his studio to produce these works, all inspired from primitive arts, American cartoons, graffiti art, hip-hop culture, and other artistic traditions.

Chalkboard Advertisement. Keith Haring.
Picture taken at the DeYoung Museum, San Francisco, CA.

"Haring was absolute in his desire for his work and its message to reach as wide an audience as possible. His art was direct, even confrontational, and he wanted it to be relevant to everyday life as well as hewn from it."--DeYoung Statement from Exhibition ('Political Art in Public Spaces')









The experience as a whole was really one of the most amazing things I have ever been to. This is the first time in ten years I have been exposed to his work in person. The last time I saw his work or at least been around it was when I went to the Pop Shop in New York as a part of one of those New York trips you do in the 8th grade.

The form itself is captivating and interesting, seeing the fluidness of his lines as seen in the video of his process in the media room. Now having a better understanding his work on a more political and social level is something else on a personal level in comparison to what I've seen on computer screens and images in books.

As a side note, it was also a wonderful Valentine's Day weekend trip to go two days in a row.