Radiant seems like a perfect name for this book – it refers to Keith Haring’s art and also his exuberant and often childlike character. In this biography, Brad Gooch draws a vivid and lively story of not just Haring — a small-town Pennsylvania weirdo who became a pop-art legend, AIDS warrior, and general force for good in the world — but also the New York arts and music scene in the 80s.
I’m not an Art Guy: I saw the Keith Haring exhibit at the AGO last year. I was familiar with his art and his connection to AIDS activism, but only knew the broad strokes. Radiant is likely deep enough for Haring obsessives, and welcoming enough for clueless schmoes like me.
If you’re new to Haring, this documentary is short and excellent:
Famous figures pass in and out of this story: not just the expected names like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, but also Robert Mapplethorpe, William S. Burroughs, Madonna, Grace Jones, Brooke Shields and Run-DMC, among many, many others, from Yoko Ono to Fab 5 Freddy. It’s specifically flattering to Madonna – her star power brought the spotlight to the AIDS epidemic, and she comes across as a generous and gracious (and somewhat promiscuous) person.
You can’t tell the story of Haring without telling the story of the AIDS epidemic in New York. Haring was groundbreaking in his advocacy, provoking at every opportunity with public, sex-positive (and safe-sex positive) art. His generosity in supporting both AIDS awareness and individuals with the disease was inspiring, as was his efforts to show that people with AIDS were not a public health risk – they can share the air, the dancefloor (and the bed) without infecting those around them.
The middle of Radiant dragged for me some, but the problem is surely mine: the description of Haring’s early career, his early adventures in the New York art and club scene and the various gallery owners and writers struggled to maintain my interest. Gooch’s detailed descriptions of Haring’s art are excellent when describing pieces I had seen, but without a visual reference, it often bounced off my thick skull. The colour plates were excellent and invaluable, but the book would have benefited from more inline black and white photography. A few grainy shots of those clubs or canvases could’ve sparked life into the slower bits.
Radiant left me hungry to learn more about that scene — I’ll be seeking out biographies of other figures from the era, both artists and other cultural figures. Gooch has done something unusual in writing a book that likely works as well for those with a passing interest in the subject as it does for those who have studied him.
Further Reading and Watching
Video introduction to “Keith Haring: Art is for Everybody” at the Broad in Los Angeles (same show I saw in Toronto)
