When American artist Keith Haring, then 27, comes to the Netherlands for his first solo exhibition in Amsterdam in the spring of 1986, he doesn’t spend all his time at the Stedelijk Museum. He goes out, to into the city, making friends with teenage graffiti-artists near his hotel. With his vibrant bouncy figures and easy going attitude Keith is a perfect match. Unlike the masses of visitors who flock to the show Dutch art critics and Amsterdam squatters/artists accuse Haring of superficial opportunism, ignoring how he addresses gay culture, AIDS, Apartheid and environmental issues. The theft of a homo-erotic drawing during the opening, followed by blackmail put the Stedelijk Museum and Haring in a tight spot. An inside story by Chris Reinewald (1955) about Keith Haring (1958-1990) in Holland, just before his worldwide breakthrough. Plus: never shown works by Haring and the Dutch graffiti scene of the 1980’s.
