Relevant as ever: Keith Haring

Exhibitions that showcase works by late artists are often advertised as very up-to-date, as works that still today have a lot to say to people. Often enough, that seems exaggerated, and in many cases, is probably in line with the organizers' marketing strategies.

But in the case of Keith Haring, that approach hits the mark. Haring remains cool and up-to-date. He died in New York City in February 1990 of AIDS-related complications — one of the many victims of the HIV pandemic raging at the time. Of course, we are again living in times of a global pandemic with Covid-19.

Keith Haring's art is timeless, a perfect fit with the new millennium

The "Keith Haring" exhibition at the Folkwang Museum in Essen was actually supposed to open in May, but was postponed due to the coronavirus crisis and its restrictions. On August 21, the art show is finally ready to open, with about 200 Haring works. 

Haring, who was only diagnosed with HIV/AIDS a few years before his death, was very open about his own situation, but also about how people and society dealt with the disease. The topic was widely taboo at the start, and even later, the way it was handled was anything but enlightening and open during the conservative era of US President Ronald Reagan's administration.

Haring's figures would wear face masks today

Haring took a unique approach, and it is not too difficult to imagine how the American artist would have handled the current coronavirus pandemic. You can almost see his drawings in your mind's eye: complete with face masks, physical distancing, and handwashing — using simple, clear and unambiguous symbols, formulas and motifs, a universal language. 

Yet despite the apparent simplicity of his motifs, drawings and paintings of the late 1970s and 80s, whether he created them in his studio or in public spaces, they can still be interpreted in many different ways — rendering them nearly classic.

Abstract art in public spaces

That is why Haring's abstract and figurative art has survived well over the decades. Young people today are just as likely to find this artist, who helped shape the '80s, appealing. That was Haring's great gift: he created art that was timeless. In contrast, Banksy, whose artwork causes a sensation time and again and who is also a master of the public space, has something downright old-fashioned in his moral unambiguity. Haring seems much more modern.

Modern also because he was "a spokesperson for his generation; in his work, Haring responded to some of the urgent issues of his time, such as political dictatorships, racism, homophobia, drug addiction, AIDS, capitalism and environmental destruction," as the Folkwang Museum wrote on its website. The issues are still the same decades later.

The "Keith Haring" exhibition at the Folkwang Museum in the western German city of Essen runs from August 21 to November 29.