AFTER DARK: Keith Haring: Radiant Vision

Our annual AfterDark event is back with the opening of Keith Haring: Radiant Vision, on Saturday, May 25. Join us for an evening of art, music, drinks, and food.

Member Opening: 5-7 PM • FREE

Public Opening: 7-10 PM • $20 per person

r and see it first or rejoin to attend the exclusive VIP and Member Reception. Member reception includes free drinks and small bites.

LBMA is honored to exhibit this prolific artist in Long Beach for the first time. Haring’s guiding principle was that art should belong to everyone, which in turn is the driving force of this exhibition. It has appeared in New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, and the northern cities of Monza and Parma, Italy, offering powerful examples of how Haring fought for change, using art as a platform for activism.

The works on view by the most famous pop artist of the 80s, from a private collection, include lithographs, serigraphs, and drawings on paper and posters, encompassing the span of Haring’s short but momentous career. This exhibition examines aspects of the artist’s life and production, from his original drawings in the subway to infamous exhibitions in historic New York galleries, along with ephemera from Haring’s Pop Shop and his commercial work. Keith Haring: Radiant Vision celebrates the indelible impact of Haring’s exuberant life, which, through this incomparable body of work, continues to inspire today.

Generously funded by Josephine Molina and Heather Rudy, with major support provided by the BCM Foundation, Evalyn M. Bauer Foundation, and The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation, with additional support from the Port of Long Beach and Bess J. Hodges Foundation.

Keith Haring: Radiant Vision is a Single Source Traveling Exhibition provided by PAN Art Connections.

Keith Allen Haring (1958-1990) was born on May 4, 1958, and grew up in a middle-class family of six in the tiny borough of Kutztown, Pennsylvania. His father, an amateur cartoonist, taught Keith to draw his own characters—inspired by Disney and Dr. Seuss—as young as four-years-old. A boy who “never stopped drawing,” Haring enrolled in a commercial arts school in 1976, only to realize the graphic arts bore little interest for him. Two years later, he moved to New York City to study painting at the School of Visual Arts. There he befriended Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Together, the three artists became immersed in the underground art scene, their large-scale paintings taking inspiration from the graffiti, music, dance, and counterculture that surrounded them downtown.

In the summer of 1980, Haring left SVA and began making street art. His satirical posters and enigmatic subway drawings garnered him rapid notoriety amongst the public, the police, and, most notably, the art establishment. By 1982, Haring exhibited his artwork—now colorfully painted on vast swaths of tarpaulin or oaktag card stock—in voguish galleries, amassing buyers and critical acclaim. Haring took advantage of his new-found influence and spent much of the mid-1980s making public art, including commemorative murals, charitable commissions, and humanitarian poster campaigns. He was a firm believer in “art for all” and developed celebrity collaborations (Madonna, Grace Jones), advertising campaigns (Adidas, Absolut), and even his storefront (the Pop Shop) to share his work with people from all walks of life.

Tragically, Haring was diagnosed with AIDs at the peak of his career in 1988. He died of complications from the disease on February 16, 1990, at the age of 31.

Tickets are non-refundable.

Host or Publisher Long Beach Museum of Art