Street Art
The Story Of Collingwood Mural of Keith Haring
In 1984 American artist Keith Haring visited Australia and created a mural in Collingwood, Melbourne. This is the story of the mural, at what was then the Collingwood Technical School, which is now one of only 31 known murals by Haring that are still in existence worldwide. Watch it below:
Keith Allen Haring was an artist whose pop art and graffiti-like work grew out of the New York City street culture of the 1980s. His work grew to iconic popularity from his exuberant spontaneous drawings in New York City subways – chalk outlines on blank black advertising-space backgrounds – depicting radiant babies, flying saucers, and deified dogs. After public recognition, he created larger scale works such as colorful murals, many of them commissioned. His later work often addressed political and societal themes – especially homosexuality and AIDS – through his own unique iconography.
This year belongs to Keith Haring who would have celebrated his 60th birthday in 2018. Until June 24th you can see a huge exhibition of his works in Albertina Museum in Vienna. But if you’re closer Australia, you should definitely visit Johnston Street in Collingwood.
The renovated Collingwood mural, Source: themmagazineblog.wordpress.com
Now, Collingwood’s iconic Keith Haring mural is starting to show its true colors as part of Arts Victoria’s project to restore the artwork and bring back its vibrancy and vitality. The conservation project, led by renowned Italian conservator Antonio Rava, marked the start of a new chapter for the Heritage-listed, internationally recognized and much loved public artwork.
Keith Haring, “Crack is Wack” mural at East 128th Street and Harlem River Drive, Source: massappeal.com
In the 1980s, Haring drew public works murals around New York City, including his “Crack is Wack” mural at East 128th Street and Harlem River Drive. Although he’s best known as a New York artist, he didn’t stay solely in the city. He traveled all around the world to paint public murals in cities such as Paris, Berlin, Pisa, Sydney, Melbourne, and Rio de Janeiro. In these cities, he painted at children’s hospitals, charities, churches, and orphanages.
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