01/26/2006
"Uplifting and Joyful" Haring Called Obscene
A commissioner in Berks County, Pennsylvania, where Keith Haring is from, is calling the artist's work "obscene" and refusing a museum's request to hang a Statue of Liberty mural.
The 30'x90' mural, which once hung from a building in New York City, was nixed after the commissioner, Mark C. Scott, looked at Haring's work on the internet and determined that it depicted "graphic sadomasochistic and homosexual activities."
Supporters of Haring contend that Scott's decision was politically motivated.
Said Jill Katz of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philly: "His drawings look very simplistic, almost primal in a way. But they all told a story. He was very much about depicting the world around him. He became one of the greatest artists of his time. He has a large body of work that is not categorized as obscene. The sexuality that comes through in his work is just one facet of his personality. It’s not all of him. It’s what some people dwell on because they find it offensive in some way. He didn’t do this for the shock value. He was drawing from his experiences."
Haring grew up in nearby Kutztown, PA. He raised thousands for children's charities in his lifetime. He died of AIDS in 1990, at age 31.
Commissioner Blasts Keith Haring's Art [reading eagle]
(thanks paige)
Posted 10:49 AM EST by Andy Towle in Art & Design | Permalink
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Philistinism is alive and well in Pennsyltucky.
Posted by: Liam | Jan 26, 2006 11:04:37 AM
Homosexual and S&M?? Um, where?
Posted by: wayne | Jan 26, 2006 11:06:03 AM
Wayne, the commissioner's comments refer some of Haring's other works. Which then raises the question, are they relevant in judging the appropriateness of this particular Statue of Liberty piece, which seems pretty innocuous for a public space?
Posted by: Jeff | Jan 26, 2006 11:44:35 AM
>>“Some of this art ... looks more like bathroom graffiti in a seedy bar than it does artwork.”
LOL, this is definitely a man who has never seen a Pollack or a Hockney, and Henry Moore's work would certainly disturb this rube.
Consider the source. PA is better known for steel mills and coal mines than fine art. Asking these simple folk to accept Keith Haring would be like asking monkeys to butter their toast. Even if they wanted to do it, they'd make a big mess of it.
Posted by: Jay Croce | Jan 26, 2006 12:05:14 PM
Ever hear of the Philadelphia Orchestra? PA is not entirely rube filled.
Posted by: busytimmy | Jan 26, 2006 12:15:21 PM
Your forgetting these are the same folks who did not want "The David" on display for the same reasons.
Pennsylvania is a wretched state. I know, I grew up near Pittsburgh. Horribly ignorant people.
Posted by: Rad | Jan 26, 2006 12:19:23 PM
Pennsylvania is NOT full of idiots. Philadelphia produced one Rizzo, but New York produced Giuliani AND Koch. So, if there is a state that most deserves the title of the State of Idiots ...
Saying that Keith Haring's work looks like bathroom graffiti has to leave a few people with their mouths open, this is actually some serious subliminal humor. There is (or was) a huge Haring drawing in the mens' room of a gay community center in NYC. I knew this drawing was in this center but, after Haring's death and his celebrity, I just assumed that this work would have been relocated somewhere and protected from the elements. But, I was in the center some years ago, and there it was, just out there.
Posted by: Peter Everhard | Jan 26, 2006 1:00:00 PM
Michelangelo was thought of as obscene by a few cardinals......
especialy the ones who he painted nude and being ushered into hell by demons.
LOL
Posted by: jimmyboyo | Jan 26, 2006 2:07:23 PM
The Haring mural was still there when I was in the center in October of 2004.
It's graphic, but stunning. Makes me smile to think about it.
Posted by: Brian | Jan 26, 2006 4:37:11 PM
Politically motivated ignorance in Pennsylvania, the home State of Rick Santorum? I'm shocked, just shocked!
Posted by: Robert In WeHo | Jan 26, 2006 8:01:37 PM
You have got to be kidding.
This moron commissioner should really step back and ask what harm a public mural of the statue of liberty will do. If anyone is interested enough in the mural to actually research the artist and actually learn something about him - that person has the intelligence and intellect to filter for himself/herself the other images they come across. Keep your moral high-grounding to your pathetic self you putz.
Posted by: Matt | Jan 27, 2006 2:21:55 PM
Haring's work spoke of his life and of the scene in New York City when he was making art. His art speaks a language anyone can understand...especially children, and his mural would have provided a great educational opportunity for local schools to learn about this man. It was Haring who told us what AIDS was all about, long before anyone was speaking of it. Condemning and banning art from public view is not new, but it certainly asks questions about what freedoms of choices we in the US actually have, when others are allowed to make judgements and decisions for what we can and cannot look at.
Posted by: Ruby C. | Jan 28, 2006 3:46:05 AM
As James Carville described my adopted state during the '92 campaign, Two pockets of civilization on either end and everything in between resembles north Alabama. Berks County is in that 'everything in between.'
Posted by: Jon Senkpiel | Jan 28, 2006 5:14:47 PM