On April 27, the Walker Art Center will open Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody, a major exhibition on the life and work of Keith Haring (US, 1958–1990). The survey presentation features more than 100 artworks from across the full arc of the artist’s career, including both significant and rarely seen examples of his paintings, sculptures, and drawings as well as a depth of archival materials lent by the Keith Haring Foundation, including video, photographs, and important source materials from his personal journals. Recognized for his singular visual language—conveyed through vibrant color, energetic line work, and iconic characters such as the barking dog and the “radiant baby”—Haring embraced a democratic spirit in his work. His practice aimed to dissolve barriers between art and life and was rooted in the notion that “art is for everybody,” giving the exhibition its title. Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody captures his creative ethos and radical vision and explores the ongoing influence of his work on contemporary artistic practice and popular culture. The exhibition will remain on view at the Walker through September 8, 2024.
Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody is organized by The Broad, Los Angeles, where it debuted in May 2023. The Walker’s presentation is the final stop on a North American tour that also included the Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto. During his life, Haring had a relationship with the Walker, participating in a 1984 residency at the institution that involved working with local youth and that culminated with the creation of a large-scale mural for the concourse that once connected the Walker to the Guthrie Theater. The Walker’s iteration of Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody will include a selection of rare video, audio, photographs, and ephemera from the Walker’s archives.
Born in 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, Haring moved to New York City in 1978 to study at the School of Visual Arts. He quickly became a fixture within the downtown community, alongside artists that included Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, and Andy Warhol. Haring’s output throughout the 1980s was enmeshed in the countercultural and nightlife scenes of the decade, with shows staged at such venues as Club 57 and other alternative spaces. Today, Haring is perhaps best known for his subway drawings, which reflect his distinctive use of line, exuberant style, and engagement with social and political commentary and humor. He produced more than 5,000 of these drawings during his career. The Walker’s presentation of Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody includes photographs, made by the late artist Tseng Kwong Chi, of a wide selection of these works, which feature Haring’s emblematic characters, such as dancing figures, barking dogs, and crawling babies. Haring’s unique visual vocabulary—now broadly recognizable in popular culture—continues to resonate for its prescient address of social issues and its celebration of joy, solidarity, community, and hope.
“Haring’s intuitive understanding of art’s ability to connect with people; his passion for creating his own visual style and approach; and his commitment to breaking down barriers and raising awareness of urgent social issues is as meaningful today as it was more than 40 years ago,” said Mary Ceruti, the Walker’s Executive Director. “We are delighted to partner with The Broad and to present this ambitious exhibition in Minneapolis, where Haring spent time and shared his vision with our community.”
“Much like the work of Keith Haring, his idea that ‘Art Is for Everybody’ is as profound in its simplicity as it is in its complexity. We invite everyone to have a closer look at why his practice, activism, courage, and accessibility continue to resonate, perhaps now more than ever,” said Gil Vazquez, Executive Director of the Keith Haring Foundation.
Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody unfolds across four galleries, examining significant moments and pivots over the course of his career. The presentation begins with works made in the late 1970s, while Haring was an art student, including early drawings in which his visual vocabulary was beginning to develop and early videos such as Painting Myself Into a Corner, 1979, which shows the artist’s style of rapid drawing and assured mark-making. The second gallery features work from the early 1980s, as the artist was becoming known in the art world, and includes large-scale paintings on canvas tarps, paintings using enamel and Day-Glo paint, and a selection of animations. The third gallery begins with a section called “Party of Life” and is filled with large-scale, exuberant paintings accompanied by rare ephemera, photographs, and video showing Haring’s contributions to the downtown New York scene. His generous spirit of collaboration with other artists can also be seen here, including video documentation of Long Distance, 1982, a performance with Bill T. Jones, in which Jones performs a dance solo while Haring creates a painting on the wall behind him.
Haring’s art and activism were intertwined and the works in the final section of the exhibition show his commentary on issues surrounding environmentalism, capitalism, religion, race, and sexuality. In particular, the artists’ activism within the HIV/AIDS crisis led to the creation of powerful, large-scale paintings made before his death from AIDS-related illness at the age of 31.
The exhibition will also feature a section in the galleries devoted to Haring’s celebrated Pop Shop, which first opened in 1986 in the SoHo neighborhood of New York, carrying artist-designed products that featured his imagery on everything from T-shirts to stickers to skateboards. Like the original shop, the gallery space is immersive, covered wall-to-wall in Haring’s line drawings, and will feature vintage merchandise from the original Pop Shop. Outside of the exhibition, the museum’s first floor Walker Shop will transform to embrace the visual world of Haring’s Pop Shop, featuring a range of Haring products produced today for audiences of all ages.
EXHIBITION PROGRAMMING
Opening-Day Programs: Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody
Saturday, April 27, 2024, 2 pm
In celebration of the opening of Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody, join us for a panel discussion.
Free First Saturday: Haring and Friends
Saturday, May 4, 2024, 10 am–3 pm
Though artists are often celebrated as individuals, many create art with communities of friends and collaborators. Explore how friendship supports creativity at this free family day celebrating the exhibition Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody. Learn more about the friendships that informed Keith Haring’s work, and make your own art surrounded by friends old and new!
Keith Haring Art Fest 2024 Kick Off
Thursday, May 30, 2024, 5–9 pm
Combining community and creativity, join the Walker for a free night of music, performance, art-making, and more.
Friday, May 31, 2024, 6:30–9:30 pm
The Walker is for teens only on this night of live performances, dancing, art, and snacks curated by the Walker Art Center Teen Arts Council and inspired by Keith Haring.
Free First Saturday: Keith Haring Art Fest 2024
Saturday, June 1, 2024, 10 am–3 pm
For Keith Haring, art happened not just in museums, art galleries, and studios, but also on the dance floor and in the streets. Join the party at this festive family day featuring dance performances, music, and art-making that call back to the art Haring created in New York City in the 1980s.
EXHIBITION CURATION
Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody is curated by Sarah Loyer, Curator and Exhibition Manager at The Broad, Los Angeles. At the Walker, the presentation is coordinated by Siri Engberg, Senior Curator and Director of Visual Arts, with Brandon Eng, Curatorial Assistant.
EXHIBITION CATALOGUE
A major catalogue accompanies the exhibition, available in the Walker Shop and published by The Broad in collaboration with DelMonico Books. The book features texts by exhibition curator Sarah Loyer, and writers Kimberly Drew and Tom Finkelpearl; a roundtable conversation between performer Patti Astor and artists Kenny Scharf and Kermit Oswald; and reflections by select contemporaries of Haring’s including George Condo, Ann Magnuson, Bill T. Jones, Julia Gruen, Tony Shafrazi, and Gil Vazquez.
EXHIBITION SPONSORS
Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody is organized by The Broad, Los Angeles. The Walker Art Center’s presentation is made possible with lead support from the KHR McNeely Family Fund. Major support is provided by Lewis Baskerville, Lisa and Pat Denzer, the Martin and Brown Foundation, the Pohlad Family, and John and Annette Whaley. Additional support is provided by Jan Breyer and Susan and Rob White.
Free First Saturday is sponsored by
Family Programs are supported by the KHR McNeely Family Fund.
Free Thursday Nights are sponsored by
Teen programs are made possible with generous support from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
