Keith Haring exhibition opens March 11 at the Brant Foundation on 6th Street

As previously reported, the Brant Foundation opens its new exhibition dedicated to Keith Haring on March 11. 

The show focuses on Haring's formative years from 1980 to 1983, tracing his rise from subway drawings in New York City to wider recognition in the art world. 

Tickets are now available through May 31. Details here. Tix are $20, though $15 for East Village residents. (Kids 12 and under are free.)

The Brant Foundation is at 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

The Brant Foundation started showing exhibits here in the spring of 2019, with a show featuring art by Jean-Michel Basquiat. 

Peter Brant bought the building — a former Con Edison substation and Walter de Maria studio — for $27 million in August 2014.

The Brant Foundation to host major Keith Haring exhibition next spring on 6th Street

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The Brant Foundation is at 421 E. Sixth St. between Avenue A and First Avenue. 

The Brant Foundation started its exhibits here in the spring of 2019, with a show featuring art by Jean-Michel Basquiat — some 70 works collectively valued at $1 billion. 

Peter Brant bought the building — a former Con Edison substation and Walter de Maria studio — for $27 million in August 2014.

How to see the world premiere of this 1989 Keith Haring documentary next month

Artwork from The Keith Haring Foundation via Eventbrite 

Keith Haring fans take note: a newly unearthed 1989 documentary about the making of "Tuttomondo" will have its world premiere on Dec. 20. 

The film follows Haring as he explores Pisa, paints the now-iconic mural, and gives an extended interview — including the moment he lands on the title Tuttomondo. The screening also includes a first look at his previously unseen Polaroids, digital paintings and animations created in Italy. 

A Q&A will follow with producer Andrea De Gioia, photographer Adrian Wilson (who's bringing a working Quantel Paintbox to demo Haring's digital process), and painter and Club 57 co-founder Frank Holliday. Filmmaker Brian ("Make Me Famous") Vincent moderates the discussion.

The afternoon (1-3) event, held at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center on West 13th Street near Seventh Avenue (where Haring "famously painted a mural in the bathroom a month before heading to Pisa"), is free but ticketed, with no walk-ins. Only 100 spots are available. 

Tickets become available tomorrow at noon here.

Wednesday's parting shot

As seen early this morning on Astor Place — a clean-up crew wiping off the "No Men" stencils left by an artist and activist on the Keith Haring sculpture. 

Thanks to EVG reader Brian Carroll for the photo.

Reader mailbag: Uncovering the location of this Keith Haring snapshot

An EVG reader is trying to identify the location of the above photo from the winter of 1988 with Keith Haring and Piergiorgio Castellani. 

Said Castellani, who comes from a family of winemakers, in a 2012 interview: 

We met quite randomly on a sidewalk in the East Village. I was a young student from Pisa, passionate about art, Keith was at the peak of his career and I recognized him immediately and I approached him, I said goodbye and invited him to do something important in Italy. The next day I was in his studio and we started working on the creation of "Tuttomondo." 

And... 

In 1989 the Castellani Family invited Keith Haring to Pisa to realize what would become one of his most important, permanent public works, the monumental mural "Tuttomondo." 

While Castellani said the chance encounter was in the East Village, there's some thought the photo was taken in the West Village.

Zine takes a fresh look at Keith Haring's public school murals on the Lower East Side

East Village native Rainer Turim is releasing the second edition of his zine on Keith Haring's Public School 97 murals from 1985 to 1988. 

The new edition is hand-numbered and limited to 100 copies. Turim said it features never-before-seen photographs, video stills, and glossed-over news articles from the first edition that give context and meaning to the murals Haring painted in this elementary school courtyard, which now belongs to Bard High School Early College Manhattan, 525 E. Houston St.

The zine opening will be tomorrow (Thursday!) from 6 to 9 p.m. at Village Works, 12 St. Mark's Place, between Second Avenue and Third Avenue. Copies will also be available at Printed Matter. 

About a Keith Haring poster exhibition to benefit Le Petit Versailles on 2nd Street

Details via the EVG inbox... 

Allied Productions, Inc. and Le Petit Versailles Community Garden are proud to host a special exhibition featuring four rare posters by iconic artist Keith Haring at ELKEL, the menswear boutique in the same building where Haring once lived during the peak of the Downtown East Village art boom in the 1980s.

The posters, generously donated by Sur Rodney (Sur) formerly of Gracie Mansion Gallery, will be available for purchase during the exhibition, with proceeds directly benefiting Allied Productions, Inc. and the revitalization of their venue, Le Petit Versailles, the community garden on Second Street between Avenue B and Avenue C. 

Reception: Thursday, Nov. 7, from 5-8 p.m. 

Nov. 8-10 from noon-6 p.m. 

ELKEL, 325 Broome St., between Chrystie and the Bowery 

More details here.

A sticky situation this morning at the Keith Haring sculpture on Astor Place

Photo by Lola Sáenz 

A new day dawned at the Keith Haring's "Self Portrait" on Astor Place at Third Avenue ... with stickers (featuring a QR code for some film project) all over the sculpture ... 

Keith Haring's 'Self Portrait' returns to Astor Place undercover of the night

Keith Haring's "Self Portrait" has returned to Astor Place at Third Avenue... EVG reader 8E shares these photos of workers putting the sculpture back in place last night...

Workers removed "Self Portrait" in September 2020 for conservation work.

The sculpture first arrived here in December 2014. 

Updated 11:30 a.m. 

Workers have yet to do the unwrapping... thanks to Steven for the photos...

Updated April 21 

Unwrapped!

A sign that the Keith Haring sculpture is returning to 51 Astor Place?

Update: Yes — "Self Portrait" is back.

Work has been taking place on the perch outside the DeathStar, aka 51 Astor Place ... where the Keith Haring sculpture — "Self Portrait" from 1989 — has been MIA since September 2020. 

At the time, the director of collections at the Keith Haring Foundation told us that the sculpture had been removed for minor conservation work and would be reinstalled after this work was complete. 

Perhaps this is the future date.

The sculpture first arrived here in December 2014. 

Midday pizza break

Andy Warhol and Keith Haring reimagined as Ninja Turtles. 

Art on First Avenue at Third Street by DeGrupo. 

Speaking of Keith Haring, his sculpture outside 51 Astor Place has been MIA now for a little more than a year. It was to undergo "minor conservation work."

Keith Haring was here: New exhibit captures work on Puerto Rican beach in 1986

Photos of Keith Haring's art in San Juan circa 1986 is the subject of a new exhibit this evening at Village Works, the gallery space at 90 E. Third St. between First Avenue and Second Avenue. 

Per the listing:

The collection of photographs was taken in December 1986 of Keith Haring's public art. Haring executed this beach wall mural in early Summer 1986 on the Condado Beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico. D.C. Larue photographed details of the work over the December 1986 holiday season. The mural had been weathered over the months by the sand, wind and rain and the effect beautifully resonated with Larue. 

In February 1987, a hurricane washed the entire retaining wall the mural was on into the sea. The photographs were authenticated by the Keith Haring Foundation for D.C. Larue in 1993.

The opening reception is tonight from 7-10 ... with the closing taking place July 1 from 7-10 p.m. 

Thanks to Clare for the tip!

[Updated] The Keith Haring sculpture is currently MIA outside 51 Astor Place

The Keith Haring sculpture — "Self Portrait" from 1989 — is no longer on its perch outside the DeathStar, aka 51 Astor Place. It has been MIA all week. No word on whether this is a temporary or permanent departure.

We reached out to the Keith Haring Foundation (see below)... and we'll see if anyone at No. 51 has an answer.

The sculpture arrived in December 2014...



Updated 2 p.m.

Word is the sculpture is being repaired and will return this fall.

Updated 9 p.m.

"The sculpture has been removed for minor conservation work, and will be reinstalled after this work is complete," Annelise Ream, director of collections at the Keith Haring Foundation, told me in an email. "We do not yet have a confirmed date for the return of the sculpture, as there may be some delays in light of the ongoing pandemic."

Performance Space New York introduces the Keith Haring Theatre on 1st Avenue

Performance Space New York (formerly P.S. 122) is entering its 40th year... and on this occasion, the nonprofit arts organization, housed at 150 First Ave., unveiled a new partnership with the Keith Haring Foundation. Moving forward, their main space will be known as the Keith Haring Theatre.

Performance Space shared the following information yesterday:

In 1980, Keith Haring received a studio residency within P.S. 122’s building (above), where he developed his iconic painting style. He fluidly engaged a variety of disciplines — as seen in his curating of performance, “Acts of Live Art” two blocks from here at Club 57 — and in his street art, exhibitions, and collaborations combined a playful sensibility with trenchant social commentary and, in the late 1980s, HIV/AIDS activism. We share and draw inspiration from Haring’s drive to bring together diverse voices and artistic media to create a body of work that captures the spirit of our time.

In addition to naming the theatre, the grant will also fund an annual, free-to-the-public Keith Haring Lecture Series, as well as the Keith Haring Curatorial Fellowship.

This opportunity considers what’s ahead through those artists who, in our vital past, looked at the alternative futures art and activism could imagine and catalyze. We feel immense gratitude to everyone who has supported us over the last 40 years and made this moment possible.

The rebranded Performance Space New York returned to a refurbished building at the northeast corner of First Avenue and Ninth Street in January 2018 after a few years away at alternative venues.

Photo of Keith Haring in his studio at P.S. 122 from 1980 by John P. Cavanaugh.

[Updated] Someone tagged the Keith Haring sculpture outside 51 Astor Place

Noted.

The sculpture has been here since Dec. 2, 2014 ... and I don't recall it being tagged much or at all to date.

Updated 1 p.m.

51 Astor Place crews quickly cleaned off the statue...


[Photo by Lola Sáenz]

Noted

The Keith Haring sculpture outside 51 Astor now with snowball...



Thanks to EVG reader Russ for the photo

You can not spin the Keith Haring sculpture at 51 Astor Place

Workers have removed the barriers around the Keith Haring sculpture that sits in the public plaza at 51 Astor Place.

Several people have pointed out that it looks as the sculpture is on some type of turntable-swivel-something base…. meaning you could give it a spin. Maybe to make up for the temporarily displaced cube at Astor Place.



Anyway, after doing some field testing, the sculpture does not rotate.



So people will have to come up with different ways to interact with it.

The circa-1989 sculpture, titled "Self Portrait," arrived here on Dec. 2

Anchoring (and lighting) Keith Haring's 'Self Portrait' on Astor Place

Workers this afternoon are apparently anchoring the Keith Haring "Self Portrait" sculpture into place outside 51 Astor Place. (They were also adding lights to the base.)

The circa-1989 sculpture arrived here on Dec. 2 ... and it had a rather temporary look with the barriers set up around it...

And we still haven't heard if the work will be a permanent part of the public plaza outside the Death Star.

Thanks to Ray LeMoine for the photo

Keith Haring sculpture arrives at 51 Astor Place

51 Astor Place, already sporting a Jeff Koons lobby rabbit, is home for now to this Keith Haring sculpture.

Workers this morning were preparing to install the "Self Portrait" from 1989.





No word at the moment if the sculpture (a replica?) is on loan or will be here permanently on Third Avenue at St. Mark's Place ...

Happy birthday Keith Haring

If you've been to Google today... then you probably saw the Google Doodle honoring Keith Haring on what would have been his 54th birthday today. Haring died of AIDS-related illnesses in 1990 at the age of 31.

And an EVG repost from March 12, 2009:

Blogger Jack Brummet at All This is That today posts a Polaroid that he received in 1982...It's a shot of Keith Haring's mural on Houston and the Bowery....


The photo was affixed to a postcard and mailed to him from San Francisco...the former NYC resident was living in Seattle. You can see the postmark on the bottom left of the photo....