“The Public Has a Right to Art:” Keith Haring’s Art & Activism

“The Public Has a Right to Art:” Keith Haring’s Art & Activism – A Lecture by Dr. Leesa Rittelmann

Foreshadowing a career devoted to art displayed outside the confines of museum and gallery walls, twenty-year-old art student Keith Haring’s manifesto declared that “art is for everybody” and “the public has a right to art.” Haring arrived in New York at the apex of its graffiti revolution and within ten short years transformed its cryptic, insular style in to a more democratically accessible form of street art. Graphic and energetic, his Pop-inspired, radiant, crawling babies, barking dogs and flying saucers held broad public appeal but the majority of his work was created to raise awareness of social injustices like Apartheid, the Cold War, drug abuse, LGBTQ rights and the HIV/AIDS crisis.

This illustrated lecture via Zoom will address Haring’s legacy as an artist whose work manifested the genre of street art as we know it today and whose activism gave voice and visibility to millions suffering from an array of under-represented social and political injustices. Special attention will be paid to works created in service of child-wellness and HIV/AIDS awareness, the two issues supported by The Haring Foundation, a philanthropic organization established by Haring in 1989.

$9 for Museum Members, $10 for Non-Members. This is a live Zoom lecture. An internet connection is required to attend. A link to the Zoom session will be sent to the email address used to register for the program, on the morning of the lecture.

 Dr. Leesa Rittelmann is Associate Professor of Art History at SUNY Fredonia. She holds an M.A./ Ph.D. in Art History from The University of Pittsburgh. Her teaching specialties include modern and contemporary art, history of photography and new media, gender studies, German and American modern art, and Black American art.

This project is supported by a Market New York grant awarded to Fenimore Art Museum from I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism as part of the Regional Economic Development Council awards.

The exhibition is sponsored in part by Mr. Gary Cassinelli & Mr. Nick Preston, The Clark Foundation, Nellie & Robert Gipson, Hughson & Benson Associates Insurance, Joe & Carol Mahon, NYCM Insurance, Mr. & Mrs. Thomas O. Putnam, and The Tom Morgan & Erna J. McReynolds Charitable Foundation.

Keith Haring: Radiant Vision is traveled by Pan Art Connections, Inc.