Found these photos the other day, shady 2009-era no-filter camera phone shots of the Keith Haring pop up shop at Tate Modern, part of their Pop Life exhibition. I assume there was a no photo rule which is why everything looks a bit covert.
The soundtrack was Paradise Garage classics (see below for Fab 5 Freddy talking about the first time him & Keith went there...)
Would be nice if someone put this exhibition on again somewhere...
The soundtrack was Paradise Garage classics (see below for Fab 5 Freddy talking about the first time him & Keith went there...)
Would be nice if someone put this exhibition on again somewhere...
The text below is taken from the exhibition guide...
Keith Haring
made his name in the early 1980s when he took his chalk to the unsold
advertising marquees dotting the walls of New York City subway stops.
Haring saw the ‘Subway Drawings’ – schematic, hit-and-run line drawings,
populated by his signature cartoon-like emblems, including the ‘radiant
child’ that became his logo – as a way of circumventing the usual
channels of the gallery and the museum to bring art into the daily lives
of the city’s commuters.
As he became a major figure on the downtown art scene, Haring forged a close friendship with Warhol, and the two artists collaborated and exchanged works.
In 1986, Haring opened his Pop Shop in New York, offering a range of merchandise branded with his distinct visual style. The walls, floor and ceiling were covered with Haring’s graffiti, and the goods on sale changed hands to the accompaniment of a continuous rap soundtrack. Like his subway drawings, Haring saw the Pop Shop as a way of accessing the public directly. Art, typically out of reach to the average consumer, was packaged in the form of affordable commodities.
Haring embraced merchandising as a medium. ‘I knew I would be attacked’, he said of the critical dangers inherent in crossing the line between art and commerce. However, he recalled that Warhol was ‘a big supporter of the Pop Shop’. Indeed, for Haring, Warhol ‘was the only figure that represented any real forerunner of the attitude about making art in a more public way and dealing with art as part of the real world’.
Fab 5 Freddy talking about going to Paradise Garage with Keith Haring...
Video from when the pop up shop exhibited at National Gallery Of Canada...
& for additional viewing...
As he became a major figure on the downtown art scene, Haring forged a close friendship with Warhol, and the two artists collaborated and exchanged works.
In 1986, Haring opened his Pop Shop in New York, offering a range of merchandise branded with his distinct visual style. The walls, floor and ceiling were covered with Haring’s graffiti, and the goods on sale changed hands to the accompaniment of a continuous rap soundtrack. Like his subway drawings, Haring saw the Pop Shop as a way of accessing the public directly. Art, typically out of reach to the average consumer, was packaged in the form of affordable commodities.
Haring embraced merchandising as a medium. ‘I knew I would be attacked’, he said of the critical dangers inherent in crossing the line between art and commerce. However, he recalled that Warhol was ‘a big supporter of the Pop Shop’. Indeed, for Haring, Warhol ‘was the only figure that represented any real forerunner of the attitude about making art in a more public way and dealing with art as part of the real world’.
Fab 5 Freddy talking about going to Paradise Garage with Keith Haring...
Video from when the pop up shop exhibited at National Gallery Of Canada...
& for additional viewing...
