Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossings Lines

National Gallery of Victoria - Melbourne, Australia

By Taliesin Thomas

Among the riches of art history are the relationships between artists-love affairs and bitter rivalries alike-that define the essence of creative collaboration. Perhaps the most legendary in American contemporary art is the eminent friendship and creative symbiosis between Keith Haring (1958 - 1990) and Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960 - 1988). These two mighty figures exploded the downtown scene in New York City during the 1980s, transforming art as we know it. A curatorial masterpiece for the ages, the exhibition “Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines”at the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) in Melbourne, Australia has brought together an extraordinary collection of original paintings, sculptures, objects, photographs, ephemera, memorabilia, video and site-specific installations. This masterful exhibit presents Haring and Basquiat in an expanded context while highlighting the individual genius of each.

Installation view of “Keith Haring Jean-Michel Basquiat. Crossings Lines,” National Gallery of Victoria (NGV), Melbourne.

The intersection between their lives and practices is evident in the pairing of rare objects that comprise this show, and the entire exhibition resonates with a vibrant energy that suggests these artists are still thriving. The signature symbols associated with their respective oeuvres-Haring’s radiant babies, UFO’s, dancing figures and prolific phalluses and Basquiat’s crowns, frenetic skulls, and erratic painterly language-shine forthwith a relevance that remains at the forefront of global visual culture. Arranged into several thematic sections throughout thirteen rooms of the NGV-including Early Works; Portrait/Self Portrait; Emerging Stars; Performance and Dance; Drawings and Early Exhibitions; Friends and Objects; Notebooks; Image Language, Line and Symbol; Copy and Paste; Political Thoughts; Black Light; Last Works-this exhibit presents a wild arrangement of more than 200 artworks and relative concepts that re-imagines ourappreciation of Haring and Basquiat as giants of their era and enduring heroes of ours.

During the 1980s, the music, dance, late-night club scene and graffiti sub cults of Manhattan were significant hotbeds of artistic interaction. Many of the importantfigures of that decade-artists, writers, curators and historians-point to the notion of ‘community’ as a paramount aspect of how art was created and exchanged. (Haring especially was known for gifting artworks to his friends, and many of those pieces are on view for the first time at the NGV.) Haring’s and Basquiat’s engagement with racism, radical politics and issues of social justice is also well represented in their artistic responses as seen in works such as Prophets of Rage (1988) by Haring-a large-scale painting with a monochrome black figure running in the middle of the work, feet clad with chains but free-and Irony of a Negro Policeman (1981) by Basquiat-a frantic portrait of a figure whose black face appears to be the skull of a dead man.

The only misfortune of this otherwise superlative show is the lurking knowledge that both of theseiconic artists passed away while tragically young: Jean-Michel Basquiat died at 27 from unfortunate drug use and Keith Haring died from AIDS complications only a few years later at 31. Fans of their work can still celebrate their pioneering artistic achievements and their ability to convey the merriment decades later, and the NGV has done a remarkable job of cultivating this sense of revelry. As demonstrated by this show, Haring and Basquiat not only cross lines, they cross ‘beyond the beyond’ through a combined artistic expression that continues to enliven and empower.

(December 1, 2019 - April 13, 2020)

Taliesin Thomas is an artist-philosopher, writer, lecturer and aesthetician based in Brooklyn, NY. She is the founding director of AW Asia and Art Issue Editions Collection (2007 - present). Thomas has lectured widely on contemporary art and she has published in Yishu: Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art, Journal of Contemporary Chinese Art (JCCA)and ArtAsiaPacific magazine in addition to regular reviews for ARTPULSE. She received her M.A. in East Asian Studies from Columbia University and she is a Ph.D. candidate in art theory & philosophy with IDSVA concurrent with her professional role in the art world.

Filed Under: Reviews