Pop Art at its Finest

     Keith Allen Haring was born May 4, 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania. He was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s. His expression of concepts such as birth, death, sex, and war became recognized immensely as the visual language of the 20th century.

     Haring grew up in Kultztown with his mother, Joan Haring, and his father, Allen Haring, who was a cartoonist, and his three younger sisters, Kay, Karen, and Kirsten. Haring was interested in art from an early age. From 1976 to 1978 he studied commercial art, which is art created for commercial purposes, at The Ivy School of Professional Art which was located in Pittsburgh. Shortly after he lost interest in commercial art and moved on to study fine art, which is art that is developed primarily for aesthetics or a concept. At 19, he moved to New York City where he was inspired by graffiti art and studies at the School of Visual Arts. 

     Haring achieved his first public attention with chalk drawings in the subways of New York. These pieces were his first recognized pieces of pop art. Around this time, "The Radiant Baby" became his symbol. This symbol carries a strong message about life and unity. In 1980, he organized exhibitions in Club 57, which was nightclub located at 57 St. Mark's Place in the East Village, NYC. It was a hangout and venue for performances, musicians, and visual artists. His first drawings of animals and human faces was his participation in the Times Square Exhibition. During this same year, he photocopied and pasted around the city provocative collages made from cut-up and recombined New York Post headlines. In 1981 he sketched his first chalk drawings on black paper, painted plastic, metal, and objects that he found. 

One of his many chalk drawings

    

"The Radiant Baby"

     Haring created more than 50 publics works between 1982 and 1989 in dozens of cities around the world. His famous "Crack is Wack" mural, created in 1986, has become a landmark on New York's FDR Drive. He got know Andy Warhol, who was the theme of several of Haring's pieces including "Andy Mouse." I found this fact interesting because last year I wrote my artist research post on Andy Warhol. I guess I am into their type of artwork which is quirky and fun. 

   Haring visited Australia and painted murals in Melbourne and Sydney which he was compensated for. He also visited and painted in Rio de Janeiro, the Paris Museum of Modern Art, Minneapolis and Manhattan. This started his international breakthrough. In 1985 he started to paint canvas and in 1986 he painted murals in Amsterdam, Paris, Phoenix and Berlin on the Berlin Wall. Later, he opened a retail store in SoHo called Pop shop, selling merchandise revealing his iconic images. 

   With the arrival of Pop Shop, his work began reflecting more socio-political themes, such as anti-Apartheid, which was system of racial segregation, AIDS awareness, and the crack cocaine epidemic. Haring was openly gay and was a strong supporter of safe sex; however in 1988, he was diagnosed with AIDS. He established the Keith Haring Foundation in 1989, its authority being to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children's programs and to expand the audience of his work. During the last years of his life Haring created most of his imagery to speak about his illness and generate activism and awareness about AIDS. In June, on the rear wall of the convent of the Church of Sant'Antonio in Pisa, Italy, he painted the last public work of his life, the mural "Tuttomondo" translation: "all-world."

   

     Keith Haring died February 16, 1990 of AIDS-related complications. As a celebration of his life, Madonna declared the first New York date of her Blond Ambition World Tour, a benefit concert for Haring's memory, and donated all proceeds from her ticket sales to AIDS charities. Additionally, Haring's work was featured in several of Red Hot Organization's, who's motto is "Fighting AIDS Trhough Pop Culture, efforts to raise money for AIDS and AIDS awareness

     Honestly I chose to do this artist based on a picture that was included in my art teacher, Ms. Kiick's slideshow. Now that I have done the research I really admire Keith Haring. I love his way of expressing serious topics by using his fun pop art that makes the work seem less like a lecture. I also realized that I have a magnet of one of Keith's works. I got it from the MoMA a couple of years ago. I saw some of his works there and didn't even realize it was the same Keith Haring I chose to research today! 

     Keith wasn't afraid to let people know how he felt on the issue of AIDS, which was a huge part of his life, this made me like his so much more as a person knowing that art wasn't just a job for him, but a passion.

Here are a couple pictures of Haring's artwork that make me look twice....

                                                     

     I like the first piece (top) because it represents his feelings about AIDS. He was very brave to stand up for what he believes in. I did see this piece in the MoMA and I wish that i took more time to look at it, I now have an excuse to go back! The second piece (middle) is the one that I have on my refrigerator in magnet form. It's a heartfelt piece of work...no pun intended and the last piece is one that I wish I had in my room. You can tell Haring had fun creating this one. It was used as cover art for the Red Hot + Dance AIDS benefit organized by Red Hot Organization's. Overall, I am fond of the way Haring can make a piece look so simple, but effortless.

Finished Shoes!

   I just wanted to make a quick post about my finished shoe drawing! I have now completed my first drawing assignment of the year, phew. It took a while and shading is my enemy, but I am pleased with the outcome.

In progress drawing

Finished drawing

Time to Reflect

   The first marking period has come to an end. A lot has been learned. Drawing is still not my forte, but I do believe more practice will help. I have learned that I have a knack for possibly campaigning for presidents! I definitely have grown since my first year in creative arts. It's nice to know what art terms mean and how to grow as an artist. 
   The books this year are also different. Instead of choosing the do whatever, our books have to have a color and subject theme. I chose to have warmer colors such as, red, pink, orange and yellow I haven't quite figured out my subject theme yet, I was thinking freedom or possibly hope. This could be ambitious and I would with out a doubt have to think of ways to express one of these subjects, but for now most of my papers just have color on them. 
   Through out this marking period I learned how to shade difficult pieces, and how to build a collage. Last year I can remember my fruit drawing looking a little "shape-y" not really having that much dimension. This year I can safely say that I have made an attempt to stray away from that quality. My collage skills have grown as well. My identity collage year didn't have a lot of substance. There were pieces that were placed awkwardly and a lot of was going on. There wasn't much layering so it was pretty much one sheet of confusion. This year I planned out my collage before I started. I wanted a clear path that I could follow and along the way I was able to add or take out some ideas. It was satisfying to have these options.
   I am interested to see what else I am capable of thinking about and able to create this year in art. 

Who is it going to be?

   The second and so far my favorite assignment of the year was the mixed media collage. This year since it is the presidential election our goal was to make a collage representing either who we wanted as president, Barack Obama or Mitt Romney, or a topic being debated by either president. 
   I chose to express who I wanted as president which is Barack Obama. I started out by transferring a picture of the American flag, but instead of the top corner being blue with stars it was the Obama logo. Once I had the foundation I built around it. I lightly painted over the left half of the flag in black, letting some of the flag peek through. I then transferred a silhouette of the back of Obama's head onto a white piece of paper and took that transfer and glued in onto the bottom left corner of my collage. 
   I had most of my pictures and materials before I started the collage, but I decided to look through some magazines and newspapers which was a smart choice. I found newspaper articles of Obama and cut them out and transferred them onto the right half of my collage. I then found a picture of silhouettes of a couple men that seemed to be looking out into the horizon. I transferred this picture onto the half that wasn't black, but right near where the black stops. The coolest thing happened which was a perfect surprise. The black silhouettes that I thought would turn black didn't transfer. Only the outer part of the silhouettes transferred. So the middle part of the figures were the flag and newspaper articles. 
   The collage was coming together quite nicely at this point, but it was still not done. I decided to use the Obama logo and make in into the logo for Obama Care. I achieved this with paint. Once that was done it seemed to take over the collage. So I covered the logo up with a tissue. This created some what a sheen to the logo making it a lot less BAM! After this step I cut out the state of Hawaii where Obama is from and glued in onto the collage. Another amazing surprise occurred. I happened to glue the state in a way where it looked like a "thought line" coming from the silhouette of Obama to the health care symbol. I didn't even realize this until Ms. Kiick pointed it out to me. 
   At this point I  was almost done. The last major thing I wanted to include was Obama's slogan: Yes We Can. With the help of Ms. Kiick, I very lightly using a dry brush and paint wrote it onto the top left corner of my collage. I also decided to only show half of each letter like it was falling onto the collage. 
   Little details made this collage pop. For instance when I covered half the flag with black paint it made the collage look a bit "blocky." So I went in with a dry brush and paint and connected the lighter side to the darker side. Another little detail was softening up Obama's silhouette by using this dry brush technique yet again. I also used, can you guess, dry brush to make my little men silhouettes to stand out better.
   Overall I was overjoyed with the finished product. I didn't know that I had it in me. I can say that it might have helped that I was passionate about the topic, but it was exciting to see me ideas jump to paper. 

Picture of my 2012 presidential collage

Another picture of my 2012 presidential collage

  

Shoes!

   Our first assignment of the year was a drawing piece. You can imagine how excited I was... I'm not the strongest at drawing and I tend to over think what is being put on a piece of paper, but I almost have a finished project and I didn't suffer too much.

   The assignment was to draw shoes. Each class had to bring in at least one shoe which would later become our models. Once the shoes were arranged on the tables the drawing began. Finding a section of shoes I wanted to illustrate was already difficult for me. Once I finally settled on a view of the shoes through my handmade view finder, I was ready for the pencil to meet the paper. 

   The drawing has three shoes in it, all of them having interesting and different patterns and materials. I wanted to attempt to capture these 'characteristics' that made the shoes unique. This was a lot easier said than done. I started by drawing the baby shoe which is at the top of the drawing. This shoe wasn't too hard, it was easy to get the basic shape and then go back and add the most important part, details. The second shoe I drew was the Nike one. This show was a bit more difficult. The shape of it was simple, but I really liked the pattern it had all around the shoe. Figuring out how to achieve this pattern was a bit frustrating. Thankfully it eventually came to me. Now, the last shoe which is the converse gave me the hardest time. In the picture I was going off of the shoe had a curve to it. This required a bunch of shading around that area, but I really enjoyed how awesome this shoe looked. I haven't finished my drawing yet, but when I do I will post a picture of the final product. Each shoe needs a lot more detail and I am still working on the stubborn converse, but the drawing will be finished before the end of the marking period though so you shall see it soon!

Here is a picture of my shoe drawing so far.  When it is finished I will upload another one!

Welcome Back

   Hello again! I have returned to the blog world after a fun summer. As a returning art student I am excited to see what this year has in store. 
   My goals for this year are to develop my drawing skills and let go of my "perfect" mindset. I left off last year able to create a ceramic place setting, get through metals without pulling my hair out, learning the ways of tempera batik, and begin my drawing abilities. An eventful year, but still a lot of skills to develop.
   When reading this years syllabus there are some modified changes from the projects last year. The feeling of being almost one step ahead of the game is comforting, but I'm going to push myself harder this year just for that reason. The one project that I'm looking forward to are the lanterns. I always see them hanging in the art room and they always look so pretty with the light shining through. 
   Honestly, last year I joined creative arts thinking it was going to be an easy 'A' class. I quickly learned it was not, but over the year I found art to be fun and a way to express yourself. It's also a nice break from school work. I'm back for another year to build on the foundation I started last year. So many possibilities to be unlocked!

End of the Year Reflections

   This year has been such a learning experience. Even though the school has taken away our art program some how my art teacher, Mrs. Kiick, has managed to do it all. From sketching fruit to creating a place setting just out of clay. Honestly, I thought by taking this class it was going to be an easy 'A,' but over the year I have realized art is so much more than just a grade. It takes time and effort. What you put in is was will come out. 
   There have definitely been some challenges along the way. I'm not that strong at drawing. I mean, I can draw if you give me something to draw, but the skill to just draw whatever comes to mind isn't my strong suit. What made me better at drawing is the freedom and interpretation Mrs. Kiick gave us have by choosing what we wanted to draw each marking period. Each assignment did have some 'ground rules,' but it gave us a bunch of possibilities. 
   Some of my favorite projects this year were definitely metal and clay. I really enjoyed the end results of both of them. The metal was quite tedious, but it was fun to see my ideas spring to life. The hardest part about the clay was the anticipation. "How will it turn out?" "Will it blow up in the kiln?!" "What if the glazes aren't right?" all these questions and no immediate answers. Once all those fears passed the completed look was spectacular.
   Overall I would say it's been a pretty great year. I will take the lessons I've learned and hopefully put them to the test during the summer. I've found the art can be relaxing. You just can't go into is thinking it's going to turn out perfect, but if you let loose the outcome could be amazing!