Basquiat + Haring

05 Apr 2020

The crown, the barking dog, the crawling baby. Friends Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring developed their signature tags early. Both were enormously influential and politically provocative. Both died unthinkably young – Basquiat at 27, Haring at 31.

Australia’s National Gallery of Victoria was to be running Crossing Lines – their Basquiat and Haring exhibition – into April. But now, with the Melbourne building closed, NGV has created a virtual walk-through of Crossing Lines, available to us all.

With more than 200 works, the exhibit includes the artists’ Early Works, Self Portraits, Notebooks and Political Thoughts. We also see the distinctive ways in which Basquiat and Haring used Image, Language, Line and Symbol. Finally, we see their Last Works which include Haring’s tribute to his deceased friend with ‘A Pile of Crowns for Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1988.’