Keith Haring Journals (49 page)

In light of the new information I received last week about my health, I know I owe it to myself to think for myself for a change, and not only about everyone else. I know I will learn and enjoy traveling with Gil as much as he will with me. It’s really not even about sex, although he’s very beautiful. It’s much more about intellectual companionship. I’m sure that there is a very good chance we won’t have sex ever. All of the indications say no. But I really enjoy being his friend and sharing and caring like a big brother more than a lover. It’s impossible to have that kind of experience with Juan, because he is my lover. I’ve always had friends like this and I hope I always will. But this morning on the way to the airport I am feeling really guilty and missing Juan a lot. I arrive at the airport and have to wait two hours for Gil to land (TWA is late, of course). I call Juan from the airport and he is just getting home from Trax (4:00 AM) and has Johnny with him. We talk and I feel better because I miss him and he misses me. I also felt jealous of Johnny so I don’t feel as guilty. I am starting to think I made a big mistake. However, when Gil arrives I think maybe I’ll get over it.

We go to Milano, and go directly to the hotel and then to Al Grissini for lunch. Walk around Milan, to the cathedral, which provoked a conversation about the power and misuse of power of the Catholic Church and misdirected influence of religion.

We return to the hotel to call Nicola and meet him and Marco to go to the opening of the Triennale. It was supposed to be about the “modern city” or the future metropolis.

I visited the Miami exhibition, which looked great, except my “dog maze” should have been drawn on the wall. I mentioned it to Germano Celant, offering to do it tomorrow (my last day in Milano). As I expected, he made it sound
very
difficult.

We go to dinner and see people I met before in Milano. Gil is tired, so we drop him off at the hotel and go for a drink at a Mexican restaurant. Then we go to Plastico, where I hang out with Peter Kea and other people I know from different parts of the world and (even though I am tired from last night) end up staying out till 3:30.

Walk around Milano, shopping (sort of) and talking. A call comes from Roberto in Pisa to assure me they are ready for my arrival in Pisa.

NOTE:

I can see that I’m never going to catch up to my day-by-day account, so I just take notes, hoping that I’ll sometime go back and read the notes and be able to talk about and remember it.

Some highlights: Pisa

It seemed incredible that all because of some people I met in the street in New York, this whole big exhibition is being organized. They are seriously interested and offering me both a wall for a mural or fresco and an exhibition in a 1,000-year-old building. The exhibition could be incredible since it will force me to place my art in a variety of historical contexts and contrasts. The restored building has different levels of history revealed in different parts and a well-curated and impeccably hung show would really enhance both the building and the art. Pisa itself is really beautiful, too. The tower is remarkable. We saw it in daylight and then in the light of the full moon. It is really major and also hysterical. Every time you look at it, it makes you smile.

 

Keith Haring (1958-1990) generously contributed his talents and resources to numerous causes. He conducted art workshops with children; created logos and posters for public service agencies; and produced murals, sculptures, and paintings to benefit health centers and disadvantaged communities. In 1989, Keith established a foundation to ensure that his philanthropic legacy would continue indefinitely.

The Keith Haring Foundation makes grants to not-for-profit groups that engage in charitable and educational activities. In accordance with Keith’s wishes, the Foundation concentrates its giving in two areas: the support of organizations that provide educational opportunities to underprivileged children and the support of organizations that engage in research and care with respect to AIDS and HIV infection.

Keith Haring additionally charged the Foundation with maintaining and protecting his artistic legacy after his death. The Foundation maintains a collection of art along with archives that facilitate historical research about the artist and the times and places in which he lived and worked. The Foundation supports arts and educational institutions by funding exhibitions, educational programs, acquisitions, and publications that serve to contextualize and illuminate the artist’s work and philosophy.

Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York City
Keith Haring: Future Primeval
, Queens Museum of Art, New York
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York City, with Jean-Michel Basquiat

Divergent Style: Contemporary American Drawing
, University College of Fine Arts, University of Florida, Miami, Florida

Cornell Collects: A Celebration of American Art from the Collection of Alumni and Friends
, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York

Keith Haring: A Memorial Exhibition
. Introduction: Tony Shafrazi (Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York City)

Future Primeval
. Barry Blinderman and others (University of Illinois, Normal)

Against All Odds
. Text and drawings: Keith Haring (Bébert Publishing, Rotterdam, Holland, and Mr. and Mrs. Donald Rubell, New York City)

K. Haring.
Introduction: Sam Havadtoy (Gallery 56, Geneva, Switzerland)

Hete Hünermann Gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany

Keith Haring: Future Primeval
, University Galleries, Normal, Illinois; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida

Museum of Modern Art, Ostend, Belgium

Haring, Disney, Warhol
, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, Arizona; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, Massachusetts

Myth and Magic in America: The 80s
, Museo de Arte Contemporaneo de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico

Les Couleurs de l’Argent
, Musée de la Poste, Paris, France

Biennial
, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City

Compassion and Protest: Recent Social and Political Art from the Eli Broad Family Foundation Collection
, San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose, California

Devil on the Stairs: Looking Back on the Eighties
, Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Echt Falsch
, Fondation Cartier, France

Keith Haring: The Authorized Biography
. John Gruen (Simon & Schuster, New York City)

Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York City

Allegories of Modernism
, Museum of Modern Art, New York City

The Power of the City / The City of Power
, Whitney Museum of American Art, Downtown Branch, New York City

From Media to Metaphor: Art About AIDS
, Emerson Gallery, Hamilton College, Clinton, New York; Center of Contemporary Art, Seattle, Washington; Sharadin Art Gallery, Kutztown University, Kutztown, Pennsylvania; Musée d’Art Contemporain de Montreal, Montreal, Canada; Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University, New York City

Keith Haring
. Barry Blindermann, William S. Burroughs: Reprint of
Future Primeval
exhibition catalog (Abbeville Press, New York City)

Keith Haring, Andy Warhol, Walt Disney
. Bruce Kurtz (Phoenix Museum of Art, Phoenix, Arizona)

Keith Haring
. Germano Celant (Prestel Verlag, Munich, Germany)

Queens Museum of Art, New York
DIA Art Foundation, Bridgehampton, New York
Keith Haring: A Retrospective
, Mitsukoshi Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan

Socrates Sculpture Park, Long Island City, New York

Coming from the Subway: New York Graffiti Art
, Groninger Museum, Groningen, Holland

American Art in the Twentieth Century: Painting and Sculpture
, Martin Gropius Bau, Berlin, Germany; Royal Academy, London, U.K.

Art Against AIDS
, Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice, Italy: Guggenheim Museum, SoHo, New York

Extravagance
, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York City; Russian Cultural Center, Berlin, Germany

Keith Haring: A Retrospective
. Germano Celant (Mitsukoshi Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan)

Apocalypse
. Keith Haring and William Burroughs (Le Dernier Terrain Vague, Paris, France)

Keith Haring, Complete Editions on Paper, 1982-1990
. Klaus Littmann and Werner Jehle (Cantz Publishing, Stuttgart, Germany)

Keith Haring Retrospective
, Castello di Rivoli, Turin, Italy; Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, Sweden; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany; Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israel

Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York City

Outside the Frame
, Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, Cleveland, Ohio

Power Works from the MCA Collection
, Museum of New Zealand

Art’s Lament: Creativity in the Face of Death
, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, Massachusetts

New York Realism Past and Present
, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, Florida, and Japan tour

Art in the Age of AIDS
, National Gallery of Australia

Significant Losses
, University of Maryland Art Gallery, College Park, Maryland

Keith Haring
. Germano Celant (Exhibition catalogue—Italian, Swedish, German, Hebrew/English, and Spanish editions. Charta Publishing, Milan, Italy)

Keith Haring Retrospective
, Fundacion La Caixa, Madrid, Spain; Kunsthaus Wien, Vienna, Austria

Keith Haring: Works on Paper 1989
, Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York City