Senin, 28 Februari 2011

Keith Haring - part 2


 Here is some more work from 'graffiti' artist Keith Haring. For biographical information on Haring see part 1 below. These works date from 1984 - 1989:

 1984 Untitled

 1985 Moses and the Burning Bush

 1986 Untitled

 1986 Untitled

 1986 Untitled

 1986 Untitled

 1986 Untitled

 1987 Knokke

 1987 Untitled

 1988 Apocalypse #3

 1988 Apocalypse #6

 1988 Apocalypse #10

 1988 Growing 3

 1988 Untitled

 1988 Untitled

 1989 Brazil

 1989 Piglet goes Shopping

 1989 Untitled

1989 Untitled

Minggu, 27 Februari 2011

Keith Haring

Following on from my recent post on graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, I thought I'd take a look at a couple of his contemporaries on the New York 'graffiti' art scene. This is the first of two posts looking at the work of Keith Haring.
Haring (1958 – 1990) was born in Reading, Pennsylvania. He developed a love for drawing at a very early age, learning basic cartooning skills from his father and from the popular culture around him, such as Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney.
On graduation from high school in 1976, Haring enrolled in the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh. He soon realized that he had little interest in becoming a commercial graphic artist and dropped out in the first year. While in Pittsburgh, Haring continued to study and work on his own and in 1978 had a solo exhibition of his work at the Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center.
In 1979 Haring moved to New York and enrolled in the School of Visual Arts. He found a thriving alternative art community that was developing outside the gallery and museum system, in the downtown streets, the subways and spaces in clubs and former dance halls. He became friends with fellow artists Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as the musicians, performance artists and graffiti writers that comprised the burgeoning art community.
Haring was also inspired by the work of Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin and Robert Henri’s manifesto The Art Spirit, which asserted the fundamental independence of the artist. With these influences Haring was able to push his own youthful impulses toward a singular kind of graphic expression based on the primacy of the line. Also drawn to the public and participatory nature of Christo’s work, in particular Running Fence, and by Andy Warhol’s unique fusion of art and life, Haring was determined to devote his career to creating a truly public art.
As a student at SVA, Haring experimented with performance, video, installation and collage, while always maintaining a strong commitment to drawing. In 1980, Haring found a highly effective medium that allowed him to communicate with the wider audience he desired, when he noticed the unused advertising panels covered with matte black paper in a subway station. He began to create drawings in white chalk on these blank paper panels throughout the subway system. Between 1980 and 1985, Haring produced hundreds of these public drawings in rapid rhythmic lines, sometimes creating as many as forty “subway drawings” in one day. This seamless flow of images became familiar to New York commuters, who often would stop to engage the artist when they encountered him at work. The subway became, as Haring said, a “laboratory” for working out his ideas and experimenting with his simple lines.
Between 1980 and 1989 Haring achieved international recognition and participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. During this period, he also participated in renowned international survey exhibitions such as Documenta 7 in Kassel; the São Paulo Biennial; and the Whitney Biennial. Haring completed numerous public projects in the first half of the 80’s as well, ranging from an animation for the Spectacolor billboard in Times Square, designing sets and backdrops for theaters and clubs, developing watch designs for Swatch and an advertising campaign for Absolut vodka; and creating murals worldwide.
Throughout his career, Haring devoted much of his time to public works, which often carried social messages. He produced more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989, in dozens of cities around the world, many of which were created for charities, hospitals, children’s day care centers and orphanages.
Keith Haring died of AIDS related complications at the age of 31 in 1990.
Since his death, Haring has been the subject of several international retrospectives. The work of Keith Haring can be seen today in the exhibitions and collections of major museums around the world.
Something that has struck me is the similarity between some of Haring's work and some of the primitive works of Aboriginal Australians, as in the examples below:

 An Australian Aboriginal painting

Keith Haring: 1982 Untitled

 1979 Untitled

 1980 Untitled

 1981 Untitled

 1981 Untitled 

 1982 Untitled

 1982 Untitled

 1983 Fertility 3

 1983 Fertility 5

 1983 Fertility (no ?)

 1983 Untitled

 1983 Untitled

 1984 Untitled

 1984 Untitled

 1984 Untitled

 Haring photographed by Annie Liebowitz

More works by Keith Haring in the next blog post.


Jumat, 25 Februari 2011

Theodoros Stamos - part 2

In this second part of a look at the work of key abstract expressionist Theodoros Stamos (1922-1997), the works shown below date from the mid 1960s onwards. Stamos travelled widely during much of his adult life. These trips both contributed to his aesthetic development and also provided fodder for his broad, deep intellectual interest in the world’s belief systems. Beginning in 1962, he created several long series of paintings; many of these contained sub-series. The Sun-Box series, begun in 1962, explored hard-edged geometries on flat grounds. After 1971, all of his paintings were part of the Infinity Field series. These abstractions are characterized by broad areas of colour delineated by slim lines or shape. Among the Infinity Fields are the Lefkada sub-series, inspired by the Greek island where Stamos spent much of his time from 1970 until his death. I think the influence of the 'colour field' works of his friend Mark Rothko is evident in these works.
He taught at Black Mountain College from 1950 until 1954 and from 1955 to 1975 he taught at the Art Students League of New York and the Cummington School of Fine Arts. Stamos was also a member of the Uptown Group. A year before his death he donated 43 of his works to the National Gallery of Greece. He died in 1999 and is buried in Lefkas, Greece.

 1969 Homage to Milton Avery, Sun-Box III

 1970 Transparent Green Sun-Box

 1971 Untitled, Infinity Field

 1973 Infinity Field, Knossos Series

 1977 Infinity Field, Lefkada Series

 1978 Infinity Field (HH/TS/7)

 1978 Infinity Field, Lefkada Series #2

 1978 Infinity Field, Lefkada Series #5

 1979 Untitled II screenprint

 1979 Untitled V screenprint

 1979 Untitled VI screenprint

 1980 Infinty Field, Lefkada Series (purple)

 1982 Infinity Field, Lefkada Series

 1982-83 Infinity Field

 1983 Infinity Field, Lefkada Series

 1983 Infinity Filed, Jerusalem Series

 1985 Infinity Field, Jerusalem Series, 3rd Letter

 1986 Edge of Burning Bush

 1986 Infinity Filed, Torino Series #7