POST POP: PRINTS OF KEITH HARING

Keith Haring, Andy Mouse, 1986,
silkscreen, 38 x 38″. © Keith Haring
Foundation.

The range and staying power of Keith Haring’s graphic work asserts itself in 43 prints (1982–90) at the Middlebury College Museum of Art. In 1990, at age 31, Haring died from AIDS-related complications, but the vitality of his work is very much alive in this exhibition of vivid, colorful silkscreens, lithographs and etchings.

An almost palpable hum emanates from the exhibit. Icons (1990), which includes Haring’s iconic “radiant baby” and “barking dog,” resonates as powerfully as when he originally drew them in chalk outlines on black paper to cover unused ad space in New York subway stations. 

Tall, freestanding columns papered with black and white photographs stand like totems in the exhibit, depicting Haring in action—making art in public spaces, working on projects with kids, hanging out with friends. Haring’s Pop Shop is also given homage through a partial recreation of the store.

Haring’s work often projects happiness, but here it also incorporates darker messages on apartheid, racial inequality, the excesses of capitalism, AIDS and the growing dominance of technology. 

In Silence = Death (1989), a large pink triangle stands out on a square black background. The outlines of bodies fill the silkscreen. Some
appear to be crying or perhaps awakening to the reality of the AIDS crisis. Two untitled works (1985) both include a white figure holding a rope, which ends in a noose around the neck of a larger black figure. Despite the restraint, the black figure seems to be gaining control.

A set of etchings Haring created to illustrate a text by William Burroughs provides an unusual glimpse into his artistry. Two Andy Mouse prints (1986) illustrate Andy Warhol and Walt Disney’s influence. 

To stumble upon Haring’s drawings in the early 1980s, was mysterious and riveting. Observing the drawings (and, on occasion, Haring at work) engaged the viewer in a conspiracy of kinship with the artist. That engagement won Haring a worldwide audience. While it’s impossible to fully capture Haring’s stunning appeal and prolificacy in a show of this size, this exhibit does something more important: it honors the artist’s legacy of ideas and ideals.