ntroduction
This week, we are beginning a unit on Visual Literacy and Argumentative Writing. What is visual literacy? It’s the ability to “read” visual images. It’s important to recognize that words–written and verbal text–aren’t the only way we, as humans, communicate with one another. We also use visual images to express ideas, concepts, and moods. From television and film to street signs and brand logos to painting and sculpture, we live in a world that is saturated with meaningful imagery.
In this unit, we are going to focus on learning how to “read” the images of a particular artist: Keith Haring. Please take a moment to watch the following short videos. They will introduce you to Keith Haring and to his work as a visual artist.
Video 1, Discover the King of Street Art [Content Warning: This video shows a couple paintings that Haring made for a sexual education campaign, which have graphic images (nudity/sexual content). Feel free to skip this video.]
Video 2, Intro to Keith Haring
As the videos mention, part of what made Keith Haring such a significant and unique artist is the fact that his career straddled two different spheres. He was an underground artist and an art school drop-out, deeply connected to 1980s graffiti culture. But he was also a celebrity and pop artist, and he created a number of high-profile commercial pieces. In many ways, his art attempted to bridge the gap between “high” and “low” art, or between what is considered “fine art”–the kind of art that you’d see in a gallery or museum–and street art, such as graffiti. These two approaches to art are usually worlds apart. People who belong to the official gallery world often discredit street art, viewing it as talentless vandalism. And people from the underground world were quick to criticize Haring for selling his work in galleries, in his Pop Shop, and for allowing corporate products, like Absolut Vodka, to use his images in large advertising campaigns. What’s interesting, though, is that Haring didn’t think these two worlds were necessarily mutually exclusive. He actually saw a commonality between commercial and street art insofar as both approaches emphasize communicating with a large, public audience. In the second video (posted above), Haring defends his commercial work by arguing that is wasn’t so much “selling-out” as it was an attempt to reach a mass audience. In other words, money wasn’t his primary motivation for doing the commercial work. Rather, he was still interested in the same thing he cared about when he did the subway drawings: producing work that a wide variety of people have access to. As an artist with a mass audience, one of his primary goals was to raise the public’s awareness about social causes he cared about, such as ending the racist apartheid regime in South Africa, nuclear disarmament, AIDS awareness and LGBTQ rights, and the crack epidemic.
Reading Assignment
Before you read and answer the Discussion prompt below, please read the following two essays on Keith Haring:**
An interview
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that the artist Keith Haring did for RollingStone Magazine in 1989 (1 year before he passed away)
An essay on the political nature of Keith Haring’s paintings, “The Endless Political Line” by Dieter Buchhart
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(you may need to download this essay because the preview quality isn’t great on Canvas)
**It’s important that you read both of these essays carefully because you will need to quote them in your upcoming Argumentative Essay Assignment.
Discussion Prompt
In this Discussion, we’re going to practice analyzing the imagery in Keith Haring’s art. Your upcoming Argumentative Essay Assignment will be based on a question very similar to this week’s Discussion prompt, so the more effort you put into your post and replies, the easier it will be to compose your essay when the time comes.
Below, you’ll see four images of paintings by Keith Haring (the first one is actually an image of one his chalk subway drawings). They are the same four paintings that I posted in this week’s lecture. Please select ONE of the paintings to write about for this week’s post. Your post should be at least 200 words long, and in your post, you should:
State which painting you’re going to analyze
Describe the imagery in the painting (including the kinds of things that Haring represents but also how you perceive his STYLE. In order to describe his style, you might consider his use of color, the width of his lines, the types of shapes he uses, how different elements are arranged spatially, and the mood or energy that the painting gives off.) The Elements of Art
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and the Principles of Design
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handouts list useful vocabulary for describing imagery in art. Review both of these handouts and try to use some of the vocabulary in your description of Haring’s painting.
Analyze how the imagery communicates a social message (In other words, what big message is Haring trying to send? What cause is he fighting for? How does he use images like words to communicate in a way that has mass appeal?)
Painting #1:
Painting # 2:
Painting #3:
Painting #4:
