Undecided: You’ve got the tote bag, should you go see the Keith Haring exhibit at Palazzo Braschi?By Effie QuattrociocchiYou’ve got the tote bag, maybe a pin. Or maybe you don’t have these things, but you’ve got a friend with the key chain, or a pencil case, or the Keith Haring Swatch, or a pair of socks, all with the characteristic barking dogs, babies and fluttering angels. Keith Haring’s work is so ubiquitous, many may not even know it is “Art” instead of trendy merch. So, you’re on the fence. You may even feel silly, as I did, when walking over to the Keith Haring exhibit at Palazzo Braschi, I encountered someone with a Keith Haring sweatshirt. If it’s everywhere, why go to the exhibit? When we think of Keith’s art – if I may call him Keith – we think of his commercially available work characteristic of his style of the mid-80s. It’s slick and polished and bright; easily reproduceable and easily sold, which it was, and has been ever since. This was intentional. Keith wanted his work to be widely available to the public making it possible for people outside of the art world to own a piece of art. What it lacks in rapture it makes up for in social goodness. It’s big-hearted - literally and metaphorically - and its accessibility brought public awareness to the most pressing issues of the decade: the AIDs epidemic, ending Apartheid in South Africa, drug abuse awareness and many others. It goes against the art for art’s sake mantra, working in service of an ‘us’, or rather, an ‘everyone’ via art. Keith is more than just a nice guy though. If you don’t go to the exhibit, you’ll miss out on some of the details. The exhibit houses hundreds of his pieces beginning with his early work: spray-painted canvases, a few subway drawings done in chalk (Keith completed thousands which didn’t survive, as is the nature of chalk), and street paintings. This early work is scratchy, often done on found materials and some have wonderful drip marks and wavering lines, a consequence of working quickly on the street. The speed and grunge of his practice and New York City at the time is palpable in these pieces. If you don’t go to the exhibit, you’ll miss the work less possible to put on a sweatshirt for its erotic content which is electric with complexity and movement. You’ll miss the work Keith did just before he died at the age of 31. The work that abandons his clean lines and stable symbols and introduces collage and scratchy brush strokes. The work that drips again. The point is not to put Keith’s work into a hierarchy of good or better, accessible or erudite, commercial or niche. The point is to challenge the oversimplification of a highly recognizable artist. You don’t have to like it and you don’t have to buy the merch in the gift shop, but maybe you’ll walk away changed and wondering what more was in Keith Haring that we didn’t have the chance to see. Ph: 365 Focus Photography / Shutterstock.com

Undecided: You’ve got the tote bag, should you go see the Keith Haring exhibit at Palazzo Braschi?By Effie QuattrociocchiYou’ve got the tote bag, maybe a pin. Or maybe you don’t have these things, but you’ve got a friend with the key chain, or a pencil case, or the Keith Haring Swatch, or a pair of socks, all with the characteristic barking dogs, babies and fluttering angels. Keith Haring’s work is so ubiquitous, many may not even know it is “Art” instead of trendy merch. So, you’re on the fence. You may even feel silly, as I did, when walking over to the Keith Haring exhibit at Palazzo Braschi, I encountered someone with a Keith Haring sweatshirt. If it’s everywhere, why go to the exhibit? When we think of Keith’s art – if I may call him Keith – we think of his commercially available work characteristic of his style of the mid-80s. It’s slick and polished and bright; easily reproduceable and easily sold, which it was, and has been ever since. This was intentional. Keith wanted his work to be widely available to the public making it possible for people outside of the art world to own a piece of art. What it lacks in rapture it makes up for in social goodness. It’s big-hearted - literally and metaphorically - and its accessibility brought public awareness to the most pressing issues of the decade: the AIDs epidemic, ending Apartheid in South Africa, drug abuse awareness and many others. It goes against the art for art’s sake mantra, working in service of an ‘us’, or rather, an ‘everyone’ via art. Keith is more than just a nice guy though. If you don’t go to the exhibit, you’ll miss out on some of the details. The exhibit houses hundreds of his pieces beginning with his early work: spray-painted canvases, a few subway drawings done in chalk (Keith completed thousands which didn’t survive, as is the nature of chalk), and street paintings. This early work is scratchy, often done on found materials and some have wonderful drip marks and wavering lines, a consequence of working quickly on the street. The speed and grunge of his practice and New York City at the time is palpable in these pieces. If you don’t go to the exhibit, you’ll miss the work less possible to put on a sweatshirt for its erotic content which is electric with complexity and movement. You’ll miss the work Keith did just before he died at the age of 31. The work that abandons his clean lines and stable symbols and introduces collage and scratchy brush strokes. The work that drips again. The point is not to put Keith’s work into a hierarchy of good or better, accessible or erudite, commercial or niche. The point is to challenge the oversimplification of a highly recognizable artist. You don’t have to like it and you don’t have to buy the merch in the gift shop, but maybe you’ll walk away changed and wondering what more was in Keith Haring that we didn’t have the chance to see. Ph: 365 Focus Photography / Shutterstock.com