Keith Haring, Untitled (FDR NY) #3 & #4, 1984, spray enamel paint on metal, 48 × 204 × 3 ¼ in.
99 Cents Fine Art are exhibiting a significant section of a Keith Haring mural, Untitled (FDR NY), 1984, at 167 Canal Street. Created in situ on a preexisting fence, the work is part of a monumental frieze that ran along nearly 300 feet of the New York City highway and was visible for most of a year. Haring, who worked frequently in public, placing his work in the world, once said,
“If I only made paintings in a gallery, I would probably be frustrated.”
The left-hand panel, partially graffitied after the mural’s completion, further evidences the world in the work. The panels are animated by Haring’s exuberant iconography–dancing and breakdancing figures, a figure with a TV set head, and a large barking dog. In 1989, when Haring saw numerous panels that had been rescued, he wrote in his journal that after all the mural had been through, its well-weathered condition “somehow … makes it look even better.”
The panels will be on view at 99 Cents Fine Art through April 30th. www.haring.com
Photo by Charles Benton © Charles Benton Keith Haring artwork © Keith Haring Foundation
