Keith Haring Journals (46 page)

After this we go to dinner at La Coupole and to Bains Douches and then to an Acid House party at the Palace. They have an incredible light show with many projectors and lasers and overlapping images. Gil meets a girl and I go home.

Get up (with hangover) at 9:00 AM to return to the printer to do the second color for each print. We have invitations for Patrick Kelly’s show at 4:00 PM and we arrive just on time. I run into lots of people at the show. The show is fun. Iman, Beverly Johnson and Toukie Smith are modeling. L’Ren, the girl I painted in Monte Carlo for the cover of the Swiss magazine, is in the show as Jessica Rabbit. We go backstage and see Patrick. Then we go on to another show, but it is painfully boring and we leave halfway through.

We take a subway back to the hotel and call George. There is a message from Princess Gloria TNT. I call Gloria and arrange to meet for lunch tomorrow. We go to Claude and Sydney Picasso’s house for dinner. Interesting conversations, but somehow everyone was a little bit pensive. I still feel my hangover and am tired.

Gil and I go out to Bains Douches again and run into L’Ren. She’s doing the Mugler show tomorrow and says we should come. It could be fun. There are some extravaganzas in the show vogueing. We go to Palace again and then home.

We arrange a car and driver. It will be impossible to do all the things we want without a car—taxis are shit in Paris.

Jean Tinguely’s show again. It’s even better the second time. We could stay for hours, but we are running late.

Then to a record store (Bonus Beat) for Gil to buy records.

Back to the hotel. We are one hour late to meet François and the printer to see proofs; a guy wants to trade a Gaultier vest for a drawing on his jacket; the DJ who wants us to do an interview for Radio Nova. They are all waiting in the lobby. We go to the room, drink champagne, check the proofs, do the drawing and rush out.

We go to David Galloway’s house to do the interview and rush to the Thierry Mugler show. We are a little late, but we see most of it. The best was Iman vogueing with two extravaganzas!

They must have been in heaven!

We take mushrooms and are tripping at Mugler. I see lots more people I know—Andrée Putman, Larissa, etc.

We go to the hotel, laughing hysterically, and then to Bains Douches to have dinner with Iman. Then we run into Gil’s “girlfriend” and drink champagne and take more mushrooms and go to another club.

There is a London party with Fat Tony DJ’ing. It’s O.K. Gil leaves without telling me and I go home to find him and his friend in the hotel drinking Dom Pérignon. Not fun . . .

4:00 AM I go to sleep after a talk with Gil and after she leaves (7:00) he comes to bed and is real upset. I still love him, even more than before. Sometimes this is really fucking weird, but somehow I’m proud of how I’m dealing with it. I can actually see the results of what I’ve learned, like I can see the results of working out every day. I think it has been really good for me.

I am happy.

9:00 AM: François comes to show me the final proof. We taxi to the airport and now I’m on the Concorde about to land in New York. It has been an incredible trip and I am really relaxed, really happy, and feel like I’ve really learned something.

This is good.

NYC: Went to White Castle and then dropped off Gil at home. This is not good.

Concorde, New York to Paris. Arrive 10:25 PM Paris time. See Claude Montana’s boyfriend, Butz, in airport. He’s going to Gloria’s party, too.

Taxi to Ritz. Call George. No answer. Call Alain. Arrange to meet at 2:00 AM. We go to gay bar (Boy) till 5:30 AM. Sleep (alone).

Sleep late. Meet François at 3:00 PM. We go to his office to sign lithos. Sign whole edition—five prints—90 in edition and proofs, etc.

Call Condo—arrange to meet for dinner. Finish signing—taxi to Ritz. Call Debra in Monte Carlo. Go to restaurant to meet Condo, Anna, and Miguel Barcelo at L’Ami Louis. Huge meal. Back to Condo studio. Hash, vodka, Dylan, Hendrix, Neil Young, etc. Force myself to leave and return to hotel. Long talk with George about my “situation” (death, etc.).

9:00 AM flight to Munich—taxi to Julia’s friend’s house. Return to airport and meet Debra. We are taken to Regensburg by van and check in at Ramada Hotel. Lunch in Regensburg and hang out in hotel to wait for party.

Dress in tuxedo (turquoise) made by Hector and taxi to Palace with Julia and Debra.

At entrance is huge curtain blown up from record cover. Eyes of bird are still blue—the printers’ mistake . . . and now it’s on the banner. The mistake has turned into a statement.

Inside. Incredible. Too much to explain about the decor. See a book. Everything you’ve always imagined in Cinderella and other fairy tales. At the party I am the center of attraction. It seems they’ve used the invitation as the basis for the decor for the whole evening. There are big cut-outs made from the record design and plates made like the record at each table setting. Andre-Leon Talley shows me May
Vogue
with Madonna on cover and her house inside with my collage in it.

See Jeff Koons, George Condo, Bruno Bischofberger, Lüpertz, Immendorf, Templon, etc., etc. Artists, musicians, tennis stars (Boris Becker) and tons of jet-set socialites (mostly from Brazil). Spoiled brats, etc., etc., and of course, Billy boy (wearing a see-through body suit with a codpiece).

I spent most of the evening autographing plates for people. People kept stealing other people’s plates. It was a major scene.

Debra got drunk and obnoxious. Julia returned to Munich. I ended up taking Debra home to the hotel and forcing her to go to sleep. I returned to the party. By then I had met this whole group of kids (young adults?) who were doing Ecstasy and were all horny as hell. One thing led to another and I ended up jerking off with this big Italian guy in the toilet. It was a very decadent evening, to say the least.

We woke up and returned to the Palace for brunch. It was brighter, calmer, more intimate and maybe even more fun than the night before. I did lots more plates for Gloria for people who had theirs stolen and spent a while drawing with Albert. He’s five years old and really brilliant. He kept calling me Keith
Haring
, never just Keith. He loves to draw and we do really good drawings together.

We say goodbye to everyone and leave for Munich to make Debra’s plane. We get a lift with Roberto (the Italian from the bathroom), his friend Cristina, and in the back seat—me, Debra, and this guy who calls himself Joey the Toon.

On the way to Munich Joe takes off his pants to show us his boxer shorts. He’s wearing a shirt, tie and jacket and boxers. We stop at a highway gas station and he goes in like that. We couldn’t stop laughing.

He does it again in Munich at a busy sidewalk café. People are amused and politely ignoring it (sort of).

Debra goes to airport. We go to hotel. They go to Milano. I check in hotel and call Julia and go eat with her and her friend and then to a sort of hustler bar and have a drink.

Home to hotel and call Gil. Talk for a while and go to sleep.

Concorde to New York.

I’ve been in Europe since last Thursday. I first went to Antwerp for an exhibition of five paintings and a few drawings at Gallery 121. It was packed full of kids (mostly autograph-seekers) at the opening. As usual, I signed shirts, jeans, books, etc., and the occasional driver’s license or passport. I signed for two hours straight and when I stopped there were still many people, but the gallery was closing and I’d had enough.

Debbie Arman came from Monte Carlo for the opening. I had a small dinner for me (about 50 people) at the house of a friend (and collector) afterward. Belgium is like a second home to me. It’s a very “family-like” atmosphere. Lots of friends from the last couple of years. Jan and his friends came from Amsterdam. We hung out at a bar later and talked for hours. Jan is really like a student (or as I remember myself as a student), idealistic and rebellious. But I’ve seen too much and learned too much about “reality” to be that idealistic. Anyway, it’s good to be grilled and answer questions for inquisitive and sincerely interested people. I feel more like a teacher all the time. Like in Chicago and also here the last week, I keep finding myself sitting with little groups of “students,” answering questions for hours. I like it.

I spent the weekend in Knokke. As usual it was really incredible. I stayed in the Dragon as usual. I ate incredible meals every day cooked by Roger (the best chef in Europe). I went on the sea on a catamaran for two hours with Xavier and Frank and Alexander. I saw all my wind-surfer friends at Paradise Surf. I hung out with all my Belgian friends who came to visit me there, but mostly I just enjoyed Knokke. Peaceful, beautiful and full of love. I really feel at home there.

I drove to Paris yesterday with Roger’s daughter and checked into the Ritz. Kwong Chi is in the room next to mine. I called New York, Munich, Monte Carlo, Milano, etc. Yoko called. She’s in Paris. I just ran into her a few minutes ago at the gallery where she’s in a Fluxus show. We’ll have lunch tomorrow. I arrived in the gallery as the TV was interviewing her, so they got us to be on together.

Last night I went to dinner for Ludovic (new friend—my French Gil) for his birthday, with Claude Montana and a few friends. I saw Futura and CC at Bains Douches afterwards. Also I ran into L’Ren. Paris is fun and exciting as usual. Too much to do.

Every time I come to Europe I think I’m going to live forever. I’m across the street from George Condo’s house ’cause I’ve got to go meet his assistant to help me make a big brush out of two smaller ones so I can paint the blimp with a 35-cm line. I saw the space where I’ll paint it this morning, and now I know exactly what to paint. As soon as I saw the actual size of the painting and the scale and shape of it I knew immediately. I decided to paint it directly, instead of drawing a double line first, since it is smaller than I imagined it. It is about 11m × 32m. I can handle that. No problem. George is back now, so I’m going over there.

Yesterday I went to George’s studio and as usual it was full of amazing new things. There is this one painting of a crucified Easter egg that is really incredible. I really want it. I’ve got to call Bruno Bischofberger (he owns it already) to try to buy it.

I had dinner with Alain and his 18-year-old gorgeous Icelandic boyfriend and François Bénichou and Kwong Chi.

Today was incredible. I had lunch with Yoko and Sam Havadtoy and then went shopping for a vase for her performance tonight. And I got a “litter box” to use as a paint holder for tomorrow. We went to see an incredible installation by Nam Jun Paik at the MoMA of Paris. It’s amazing what images he gets out of a TV screen and the speed with which they change. This is what television as an art form is all about. It was a real treat for my eyes and brain (working overtime) absorbing information at such high density and speed.

I returned to the hotel, went swimming and met Claude and Sydney Picasso at the Fluxus opening and waited to see Yoko. The press was really obnoxious so she was getting claustrophobic. We hung out backstage at the Beaux-Arts and waited for the performances to begin. At the last minute they needed a pianist to accompany Charlotte Moorman on the cello. This other guy and I played with her. The crowd was full of drunk art students and quite rude and obnoxious. It was a shame to see some great people like Allison Knowles get booed and heckled. It was a pretty ignorant audience. They took a break and cleared the room in the middle to calm people down. Yoko did two pieces. I assisted her in the piece where she breaks a vase (I held it under a shirt to keep the pieces from flying about), and invites people to each take a piece of it and all return in ten years to put it back together again.