Keith Haring Exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum

This past weekend I went down to NYC to see the Keith Haring: 1978-1982 exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum (and to visit my sister of course! And let's not forget the shopping too!).  I've been a big fan since I was introduced to him in a Pop Art lesson in my high school art class.  I was immediately drawn the to the simple lines and primary colors, and set out to learn more about him.

Being so fascinated by his art, and not really able to pinpoint why, I decided to paint me and my sister's room (and doors, and even a cabinet and a little table) with a bunch of Keith Haring's images, and images inspired by his. Unfortunately after searching and searching I haven't found any pictures to show you, as the room has been repainted.  But I had a blast doing it, and am so grateful for parents who let us express ourselves artistically like that!

Anyways, back to present day.  So Gin, being the awesome sister that she is, mapped out a walking route to the Brooklyn Museum, that had us walk past two Keith Haring sculptures!  Cool huh!?  It reminded me of when I was living in California and happened across another one of his sculptures in San Francisco; I was pretty excited.

This one is pretty cool because looked at from a different angle, it almost becomes a different sculpture!

Sweet huh?!  (After admiring the sculptures, we walked through the Brooklyn Botanic Garden which is right by the Brooklyn Museum.  It was beautiful!  Really worth going to if you're in the city, or at least I think so!)

On to a few pictures from the exhibit!  I was so excited and surprised to see how much art there was.  I knew that it was works from 78 to 82, so it would be his early pieces before he got really famous, and I didn't know what to expect.

This is a cropped section of the first photo, edited for Instagram.

This is a small little section of a really long mural!

Even the wallpaper on this particular wall was made from images of flyers he made for his art shows and for his friends' art shows... they were really art by themselves!

There were even some of his original subway drawings that he did with chalk on black paper!  I really didn't expect to see these!  You can just imagine how excited I was... He started to really make an impression in the art world because of these drawings (and was even arrested a couple of times for putting them up in the subway...)

It was an excellent exhibit, which also included some of his visual media pieces, sketchbook drawings, and even pages from his journals.  After reading about him, seeing pictures of his pieces in books, and even giving a presentation in college on him, it was AMAZING to see his art in real life!!  I found myself wondering what it would have been like to discover his drawings in the subway, and wondering what he'd be making today if he were still alive.  If you have the chance you should definitely check it out.  (It's open until July 8th.)

When I was in high school, I think I loved his work so much because despite the simplicity of it, it still had an ability to create movement and evoke emotion.  And looking back now, I'm wondering if my fascination with this artist started my love for modern and minimalistic art...

I could probably go on and on, so I will just leave you with a couple of Keith Haring quotes:

"I don't think art is propaganda; it should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it." -Keith Haring

"When it is working, you completely go into another place, you're tapping into things that are totally universal, completely beyond your ego and your own self. That's what it's all about." -Keith Haring