On the 7th of January 2016, I revisited Pisa. She was still as serene as ever.
This particular trip was memorable. There were a few downs but mostly I believe we all had a great time exploring Europe. For me, it was a whole new experience but same old places. Dear friends and closest friends of mine packed and left for Europe for almost a good month. We celebrated Christmas in London and New Years Day in Paris. We started with five, but for the rest of the trip down through Italy, there was only left with three of us. Along the winding trail of our Italy trip, we had many stops.
One of the stop was Pisa.
Pisa sits composed and untroubled. The reputable bell tower of the cathedral of Pisa leans ever so gracefully and patient as if immune to the effects of time. Rows and rows of tourists, mostly Asians, would gather nowhere but here at the grounds of the leaning tower. What do they do? They do what they do best: selfies and striking a pose for the camera.
Last checked, I am Asian. Therefore, I just had to do one.
Fail.
But for today, our focus is on a mural in Pisa. On the exterior of a casual-looking church is a large scale painting depicting a myriad of colourful figures doing discernibly random acts. It was modern, current and stylish as compared to its antiquated surrounding. I had to stop and snap a picture (below). And it was then I remembered his name. The man that I find so familiar: Keith Haring.
Keith Haring (1958—1990) was an exceptional and exemplary urban artist whose street art rose above to a greater purpose. He had the insight to see how art would become intermingled with the human environment, his work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s and often expresses the concepts of birth, death, war and sexuality. Keith was also a social activist. His works were heavily political and his imagery had then became a widely recognised visual language of the 20th century.
While in New York, Keith met with a Pisan student who invited him over to spend a period in the Tuscan city. And it was then that he had the idea to create something in Pisa. An agreement made with the town and convent’s priest resulted in a mural which took four days to paint. Usually Keith would complete his paintings in a day, however this mural took him a week to complete.
Pisa is amazing, I do not know where to begin. I realise now that this is one of the most important projects I’ve ever done.
-Keith Haring, 19 June 1989
Keith rarely attributed a title to his works because urban graffiti will often disappear over time.
Titles? A difficult question, because I never give a title to anything… Not even this painting has one. But if it would, it would be something like… Tuttomondo!
-Keith Haring, when asked about his mural
Much devotion and effort was put into the creation of this magnificent art. The title proposed by Keith, expressed in words, represented the symbolic meaning of unity and peace.
At the heart of the mural lies the Pisan cross, a symbol of Pisa, with four human beings conjoined at the waist. The animals, a dolphin, a dog, a bird and a monkey, represents the essential harmony between man and creatures. A pair of scissors, a union of two figures, represents the good and it cuts the serpent which represents evil in this world, overall symbolises good triumphs over evil. A woman with a baby in her arms and a man with television for a head symbolises the contrasts between the requiescence of life and technology. The deformed figures and others all adds to the dynamic of the mural. Everything is well fitted together to symbolise peace and harmony in the world.
At the bottom of the mural is a yellow figure walking in the direction of the leaning tower; an audience, a bystander, who devotes a moment to reflect upon Keith Haring’s art.
Eventually, Keith’s soul and talent was claimed by the AIDS epidemic. He was openly gay and a strong advocate of safe sex. However, in 1988, he was diagnosed with AIDS. It left a great impact in his life. It is clear that the theme of sexuality and AIDS permeates in his later works. Sex was a predominant theme in his art, but his perception of sex was affected by constant fear as the threat of AIDS became apparent. It had a great influence in his life, many of his friends were dead because of the disease, and being a social activist, he aimed to turn sexuality, specifically homosexuality, away from the subculture and stereotypes. Through the joint lenses of religion, politics and art, Keith became the first artist to present homosexuality in a politically progressive way.
Tuttomondo was Keith’s last public work.
Sometimes we see art and allow the simplest and most shallow form of interpretation to cloud our judgement. “This looks bad”, “this doesn’t look right”, “this colour doesn’t match with that” and “it should be like this and not like that”. We have all been there before. But before we apply our worthless comments, should we not think why the artist would have intended his/her work as to be such?
Think before we speak. When it comes to art, we have to think before we “see”.
In retrospect, his pop art and subtle symbols made him into an unlikely fashion icon. The first time I saw the colourful human figures was in a t-shirt. I thought, “how cute”. And it was much later when a friend who is currently a fashion designer brought his name to light and introduced me to his art. Here below are some of “his” designs.
Sometimes the most simple motif can be blown into such beautiful proportion. If you are curious and want to see more of designs influenced by Keith Haring, do Google! For your information, many designers are collaborating with Keith Haring Foundation, founded by Keith himself, which supports AIDS and children’s charity.
In this video, we see Keith Haring going about creating public art in subways in the early stage of his life. Evidently getting arrested as well.
I shall end off my entry with a documentary by Maripol, friend of Keith Haring. I hope you will know and fall in love with Keith and his art as I did. The documentary is in six segments. It is an hour long, do come back and watch it when you can. I will not spoil it for you.
This is how I met Keith Haring. Have you met him yet?
gildon c. 