Haggerty Museum of Art Presents

On the Fence: Keith Haring's Mural for the Haggerty, 1983

(MILWAUKEE) The Haggerty Museum of Art, Marquette University will present On the Fence: Keith Haring's Mural for the Haggerty, 1983 opening January 20 and continuing through March 27, 2005. The exhibition will consist of major portions of the 100 x 8-foot construction fence surrounding the Haggerty Museum of Art during its construction in 1984, photographs of the fence construction, a drawing and a book by the artist. The exhibition opens Thursday, January 20 with "Perspectives on Keith Haring," a lecture by Elisabeth Sussman, curator at the Whitney Museum of Art, New York at 6 p.m. with a reception to follow at 7 p.m.

In April of 1983, Marquette University began construction on the Haggerty Museum of Art. The backdrop for the groundbreaking ceremony was the 100 x 8-foot mural filled with bold fluorescent orange and black figures and forms designed by Keith Haring. Haring spent five days working on the wall - he drew all of the outlines of the figures and painted a great majority of them. The Students for the Fine Arts Club at Marquette helped paint some of the figures that Haring outlined in his signature style.

Keith Haring was born in 1958 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He first studied at the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh. He decided against becoming an illustrator or graphic designer, and attended classes at the University of Pittsburgh. He then became involved with the Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center, where he had his first important show. Keith Haring moved to New York in 1978 as a scholarship student at the School of Visual Arts.

Haring gained visibility through exhibitions at public schools, clubs, subway drawings and street graffiti. His first solo exhibition at Shafrazi in 1982 included drawings, painted tarpaulins, sculptures, and on-site work. The next several years brought him world-wide recognition. His exhibitions were held in Rotterdam, Tokyo, Naples, Antwerp, London, Cologne, Milan, Basel, Munich, Bordeaux, Amsterdam, Paris and other cities, as well as numerous shows in New York and across the United States. In 1988, Haring was diagnosed with AIDS. Before his death in 1990, he established the Keith Haring Foundation to continue his charitable support of children's and AIDS-related organizations.

This exhibition is sponsored in part by the Mary Martha Doerr Endowment Fund.



The Haggerty Museum of Art is located at North 13th St. and West Clybourn Avenue on the campus of Marquette University. Museum hours are Monday - Wednesday, Friday - Saturday, 10 am-4:30 p.m.; Thursday, 10 am-8 p.m.; and Sunday, noon-5 p.m.. Free parking is available in the Mary B. Finnigan Parking Lot (enter on 11th St. through Marquette Lot J). For more information on the Haggerty Museum call (414) 288-1669.