The Broad Museum in Los Angeles will host the first museum exhibition of Keith Haring's extensive oeuvre beginning May 27. 120 works of art, together with personal material such as diary entries, tell of the life of the artist (1958 - 1990), who died at an early age. The show spans a total of ten galleries, illustrating the multifaceted nature of Haring's work and encompassing his entire career from his student days in the 1970s until shortly before his death. With his bright colors, energetic lines and iconic figures, he explored the boundaries between art and life, spreading joy but always remaining rooted in the spirit of street art: »Art Is For Everybody« was his guiding principle – which lends the exhibition its title.
Keith Haring: Art Is For Everybody presents not only the entire formal range of Keith Haring's work, from videos, to sculptures, drawings, paintings and graphics, to subway drawings and murals, the Broad also brings his political stance and activism to life. Haring's involvement with issues such as nuclear disarmament and the anti-apartheid movement take place in the exhibition space, as does his engagement with matters such as environmentalism, capitalism, the proliferation of new technologies, religion, sexuality, and heritage. The last stop of the solo exhibition focuses on works from the 1980s that, in tandem with framed posters of anti-HIV campaigns, bring to mind the artist's tragic end and his struggle with, as well as activism against, the disease of AIDS. Keith Haring: Art Is For Everybody features important works from the museum's own collection and loans from major museums.
The Broad simultaneously entices visitors with announcements of immersive elements: There will be a gallery lit by black light, punctuated by a playlist created by Haring himself. The museum is also recreating Haring's The Pop Shop, a store he opened in New York in 1986. The exhibition ends in Los Angeles on October 8, then moves on first to Toronto to the Art Gallery of Ontario and then to the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.
