Two of influential New York City street and pop artist Keith Haring’s art cars are on display in the city right now for the first time in history, and the exhibit is open to the public. Heck, even the parking is free. If you’re anywhere near New York City right now, you don’t have an excuse not to visit the Keith Haring: In The Street exhibit at Free Parking, a new West Village gallery curated by the CART Department, on display between April 10th and 19th. The exhibit features a 1963 Buick Special and a 1971 Land Rover Series III (above), as well as a variety of other original works and photographs.
According to reports from Artnet, the Buick, Haring’s first art car, will leave Free Parking prematurely on the 14th in preparation for exhibition at the Bentonville, Arkansas, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. The Buick was originally done as a gift for the architect of Haring’s Soho Pop Shop, and was kept under cover for decades. The car first surfaced publicly in the Petersen Automotive Museum’s Haring exhibit a decade ago.
The Land Rover, meanwhile, was decorated by Haring ahead of its unveiling at the Montreaux Jazz Festival in 1983. Art collector Larry Warsh owns both cars and purchased the Land Rover directly from the festival’s producers in-period and has held on to it all these decades. Among the tangle of Haring’s bold figures and symbols, you’ll see the event’s name painted out in plain letters.
Haring painted four cars and one motorcycle in his tragically short life, with a BMW Z1—among his final pieces—likely the most famous of the group, sadly absent from this exhibit. Likewise, the Ferrari race car-shaped childs car he painted for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, and the Honda Hurricane superbike are missing from the New York show.
A widely recognized visual language
Haring was just 31 years old when he died in 1990, a victim of the rampant AIDS epidemic. His politically resonant art of the 80s endures long after his departure. He started his artistic endeavor as a young child, and his work developed over his youth, then blossomed after his move to New York when he became a prolific street artist and graffitist. Haring’s early canvases were found underground, as he decorated dozens of MTA subway cars with his dancing and active figures before moving into more, um, legally permissible work. The Public Art Fund aided his rise to fame in 1982 when his art was featured to millions on a billboard in Times Square.
Haring was deeply committed to his political activism, using his visibility and unique style to open conversations about LGBTQ rights, the HIV/AIDS crisis, and the crack epidemic. He was also a critic of South African Apartheid and promoted nuclear disarmament. Especially following his HIV diagnosis in 1987, Haring got more politically involved and desperately more prolific as an artist. Some days he would complete up to 40 paintings, knowing he needed to get his work out before he was gone. He made so much art in this period that collectors have a hard time authenticating anything, which is pure rock star sh*t in my eyes.
Color me green with envy toward anyone who can make it to this exhibition. Haring is one of my personal favorite artists, and when art intersects with the automobile, I’m always intrigued. This is a great event for New York, and a great display of Mr. Haring’s daring and exciting work. If you can, please don’t miss this one.
