Artist Keith Haring was born on this day in 1958, he first made his mark drawing graffiti on New York’s subways but would later see his works featured in large public murals and galleries.
His artwork often made political statements about government inaction in tackling the AIDS epidemic, and today his work if often featured on everything from clothes to notebooks, drink containers and backpacks.
Haring arrived in New York in the late 1970’s where he studied at the School of Visual Arts during the day and worked as a busboy at nightclub Danceteria in the evenings.
He first came to attention creating works with chalk on unused blackboard on New York’s subways. Soon his work moved from the streets into art galleries with his graffiti line drawing style that was filled with symbols and messages.
Soon Haring was travelling the world taking on commissions to create new works, he visited Australia in 1984 painting murals in Melbourne and Sydney and being commissioned to create a work for the National Gallery of Australia.
Harring also created politically charged works including his ‘silence = death’ series which highlighted the US government’s lack of action on addressing the AIDS crisis.
As an up-and-coming artist in New York Haring was close friends with Jean-Michael Basquiat, Madonna, Futura 200 and Kenny Scharf. Later he would have associations with Andy Warhol, Grace Jones and Yoko Ono. He was diagnosed with HIV in 1988.
When he publicly shared that he was living with HIV in 1989 prices for his artworks immediately soared as collectors anticipated his impending death, at the time there were few successful treatments and the those contracting the virus faced a low life expectancy.
Haring passed away on 16th February 1990 aged 31. He is memorialised on a panel of the AIDS quilt.
Madonna donated all the proceeds of the first New York date of her Blonde Ambition tour to HIV charities in honour of Haring, and he’s featured in her memorial to people lost to HIV/AIDS in her recent Celebration tour. In 2019 he was one of the first 50 Americans added to the honour roll at the Stonewall Memorial.
After his death Haring’s journals were published, in the forward artist David Hockney describes Haring as an artist who left his mark everywhere.
Today his style is more popular than ever. There’s a Keith Harring range at K-Mart where there are shirts in his style, You can grab a Keith Harring water bottle or notebook from Typo, and H+M have offered a range of striking jackets utilising his art. You can even create your own Keith Haring design on Canva.
Angels in America: Part One – Millenium Approaches made it’s Broadway debut in 1993
Angels in America, which won author Tony Kushner the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and the Tony Award for Best Play in 1993, had it’s Broadway debut on this day in 1993.
Angels in America is a play delivered in two parts, Part One Millennium Approaches was first performed in 1992 with the second segment Part Two: Perestroika being delivered the following year. Both segments made their Broadway debut in 1993.
Angles in America: Part 1 – Millenium Approaches began its Broadway run on this day in 1993, with the cast adding the second part of the story the following November.
Among the Broadway cast was Joe Mantello, Marcia Gay Harden, and Jeffrey Wright. The London production began a few months earlier and included Daniel Craig, Jason Isaacs and Stephen Dillane.
The complex and often metaphorical play is a study of HIV/AIDS and attitudes towards homosexuality in America. The play is often presented as a whole piece, but is often performed as separate entities as well. Performed together the play runs for seven hours.
In 2003 it was adapted into a HBO mini-series with an all-star cast including Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Mary Louise Parker, Emma Thompson, Jeffrey Wright, James Cromwell, and Simon Callow.
The play, especially its first part, continues to be performed regularly around the world. A 2010 Off-Broadway revival starred Christian Borle, Zachary Quinto, and Billy Porter, later Michael Urie and Adam Driver joined the cast too. A 2017 West End Production starred Andrew Garfield and Russell Tovey, with Nathan Lane, Denise Gough and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett.
In 2016 Black Swan State Theatre Company mounted a production.
