The Walker Presents the Life and Career of Keith Haring

Tomorrow, April 27, the Walker Art Center opens an exhibit spanning the career of 1980s New York City icon Keith Haring.

Known for his paintings and drawings of simple, exuberant characters who seem to literally radiate joy, the artist initially hung out in subway stations, getting arrested on occasion as he scrawled his wacky and beautiful cartoons in chalk on the black paper that covered unused ad spaces.

He had already reached the NYC masses by the time he breached the fine-arts world with a hugely successful solo show in 1982.

Two years after that, his story overlapped with Minneapolis through a residency at the Walker.

The exhibit, running through Sept. 8 and titled “Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody,” commits one section to this residency, with video of Haring painting a mural at the Walker. His Minneapolis moment feels significant because of how brief the artist’s career was, at least compared to his impact. Haring died of AIDS-related complications in 1990, at 31. In his time, he counted Jean-Michel Basquiat as a friend and rival, Andy Warhol as a mentor, and Grace Jones and Madonna as collaborators. They all appear throughout the show.

To cover enough ground, the Walker goes from zero to 100, from subway photos to Pop Shop paraphernalia to monumental late-career works. With his trademark bold accessibility, Haring tackled politics, sexuality, religion, capitalism, and other themes haunting the decade. The show may feel, on a micro level, as breathless and exhilarating as Haring’s run felt in the ’80s.

Here are some glimpses of what to expect:

Photo by Amy Nelson

Photo by Amy Nelson

Photo by Erik Tormoen

Photo by Erik Tormoen

Photo by Amy Nelson

Photo by Erik Tormoen

Photo by Erik Tormoen

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