The Fabulous Universe Of Keith Haring

Over the weekend I watched an excellent documentary about artist Keith Haring (above) on Logo called The Universe of Keith Haring. I recommend it highly.

I am not very knowledgeable about art, but one artist I admire greatly is the late Keith Haring. Like me, he was born and raised in small-town Pennsylvania but decided to move to New York City and make a new life for himself.

And what a fabulous life it was. Keith started doing chalk drawings of his "Radiant Baby" in the subway during the early 1980's, and people began noticing his work. By the mid-80's, he was hanging with Madonna (with Keith, below) and Andy Warhol and selling his paintings for thousands of dollars each. Reading about Keith was one of the things that made me want to move to NYC myself.


Also like me, Keith was attracted to Latino men, and he had at least two boyfriends named "Juan" (below is Keith with boyfriend Juan Rivera). In the documentary, photographer David LaChapelle revealed that Keith once tried really hard to get to know David's Papi boyfriend one night at a club, while completely ignoring David. Trust me, us Pennsylvania bitches DO NOT PLAY when it comes to the pursuit of Latino Men - which LaChappelle found out.


Before I lived here, when I would visit New York I would always stop at Keith's "Pop Shop" (below). The Pop Shop sold t-shirts and other merchandise featuring Keith's bold graphics (it closed in 2005) - and I ended up buying a couple of t-shirts. In fact, I wore my Keith Haring tee at Penn State as a very subtle way of saying "I'm gay" to anyone who may have recognized Keith's work. It was like my personal version of the 1970's gay hanky/bandana codes. I was still mostly in the closet, and the majority of Penn State's straight population had no idea who Keith Haring was - so it was a great way to attract attention, without attracting the wrong kind of (homophobic) attention.


Sadly, Keith died of AIDS in 1990 - before I moved to New York. I would have loved to have seen him just once - at a club or on the street - but I got here too late. But one of the cool things about Haring's work is how public and permanent much of it is. In fact - the public restroom at New York's Gay and Lesbian Center was painted by Haring in the 1980's - and the mural still remains today. I am proud to say I have peed in the Keith Haring bathroom!


If you get the chance, watch The Universe of Keith Haring - it is an excellent documentary about an extremely talented man.