Exhibition to celebrate artists’ universal language

Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat are stars of the National Gallery of Victoria’s summer blockbuster exhibition.

NGV senior curator Miranda Wallace with artworks from the blockbuster exhibition. Picture: Getty Images

The 1980s didn’t just push the boundaries of fashion, it also pushed the boundaries of art, especially for friends and rivals Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat, stars of the National Gallery of Victoria’s summer blockbuster exhibition.

Guest curator Dieter Buchhart said Haring wanted to create a universal language and communicate with everyone through his work.

“He understood art is for everybody,” Buchhart said.

He said Haring created works in the New York subway, working on blank paper glued for ­advertisements.

“He had an enormous impact,” Buchhart said. “(It was) the first major work in public space before the 1990s, when it became more and more common.”

Buchhart said Haring’s works also were a precursor to emojis by using images such as letters and words.

“He wanted to communicate with the people … he understood he had to communicate in a readable language.”

Buchhart said Basquiat used words combined with images and symbols to communicate his message to viewers in a disrupted way that forced audiences to focus on different aspects of the work before forming a view of the whole.

“With the most complex works, I will always first of all start reading it again and then discover it again,” Buchhart said. “I always discover something new.”

NGV director Tony Ellwood said both artists were deeply concerned with political issues, including racism.

“Haring was particularly active in AIDS causes which were directly impacting him and his community, and activism against apartheid in South Africa,” Ellwood said.

“Both used their primary artistic technique of a strong line to convey political messages about these issues in ways that could be interpreted by many.

“Clearly many of the issues Haring and Basquiat were concerned with still resonate today; race relations and human rights occupy the cultural and political landscape as they did in the 1980s.”

Keith Haring | Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines will run from December 1 to April 13, 2020.