KEITH HARING

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Keith Haring: 1978-1982 exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum.  I've always been enamored by the scope and reach of Haring's work, produced in such a short time span.

I briefly discussed Haring's work before here, but the Brooklyn Museum exhibition was the first time I'd experienced such a wide range of media.  Haring's classic imagery such as the radiant baby and barking dog were well represented, but there were also a number of unfamiliar pieces that provided new insight to his work as a whole.

Central to the exhibition was a selection of party photos from the Keith Haring archives that showcased Haring's involvement in the East Village club culture, as well as his association with other artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf.  In addition, excerpts from Haring's journals gave insight into his artistic process.

A particularly poignant piece in the exhibition is a film that I saw for the first time, Painting Myself Into a Corner, from 1979.  The work is an excellent example of the way that Haring's work, life, and essentially, his being, overlapped.

Before his death in 1990, he founded the Keith Haring Foundation, which provides funding and imagery to AIDS organizations, and has continued Haring's legacy of social and political awareness with a sense of humor.

I'm wearing a Keith Haring x Patricia Field dress, United Nude shoes, and an H&M necklace.

Keith Haring: 1978-1982 is on view at the Brooklyn Museum through July 8.
Visit their website for more information and interaction, including a playlist meant to accompany the exhibition.

CREATIVELY GIFTED

In the spirit of the shopping season, I've put together a collection of (mostly affordable) gift ideas for the artfully minded individual.  I would love to give or receive everything on this page!  

Not pictured is my absolute favorite gift: a museum membership.  Not only does it generally provide the recipient with free admission, discounts, and access to special events, it also supports the institution and its ability to bring art to others.

Happy shopping!

Knitta Artist Series Hand-wrapped Sunglasses, $130

Staedtler Triplus Fineliner, $21

ABEX Crayon Set, $16

Art Memo Game, $19

Watercolor Tyvek Mighty Wallet, $15

New Media Art, $10

Bond No.9 Parfum, $195

Basquiat (Basic Art), $10 

Hokusai Great Wave Scarf, $60

Moleskine Passions Style Journal, $19.95

Lukas Designer's Gouache Set, $14.40

Nick Cave Punching Bag, $70

Unicorn Tapestry Tie, $50

BOOM FOR REAL

"Boom for real", an adage of the late Jean-Michel Basquiat, implies short-lived, fast-paced, noteworthy, and life-changing--an accurate description of Basquiat's life and career itself.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) was born in Brooklyn. He left home as a teenager and began tagging the Lower East Side under the pseudonym of SAMO.

Paralleled by his personality, Basquiat's rise to art world stardom was rapid and extreme. In just a few years, he went from being a semi-anonymous street artist, living on benches in Washington Square Park, to a prominent painter, with studio space in SoHo and gallery representation in the US and abroad.

Basquiat began working on canvas, and was classified as a Neo-Expressionist, alongside contemporaries Francesco Clemente and David Salle. He began working relationships with Andy Warhol and David Bowie, and was connected romantically with Madonna.

Basquiat's large-scale canvases were often covered in trail-of-thought text and incorporated layers of paint stick and spray paint, amassed while Basquiat worked with simultaneous precision and abandon. However meaningless some of the words and phrases appear, many of them are symbolic, and deal with issues of race and society.

Basquiat died of a heroine overdose in 1988 at the age of 27. His short life and career truly exemplified the meaning of "boom for real".

I'm wearing a vintage jumpsuit, vintage leather belt, Halston Heritage espadrilles, and a vintage leather drawstring bag.

In a very recent post, I mentioned Cy Twombly's influence on Jean-Michel Basquiat. As I was writing this post yesterday, I heard the sad news of Twombly's death at age 83 and couldn't help but wonder at what would have been, had Basquiat seen 60 more years of life.

RIP Cy Twombly and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

[Basquiat images from ginavivinetto.wordpress.com, artmona.info, michaelarnoldart.com, and isak.typepad.com, respectively.]