Features

Contributed by Imako Tanaka, curator of Nakamura Keith Haring Collection

Even if you do not know Keith Haring’s name, you can search the internet and probably come across images of his art that look familiar. Even today, 34 years after his death, Haring’s works have become part of everyday life across a wide range of media, from T-shirts to social media platforms.

The Nakamura Keith Haring Collection, located in Hokuto City in Yamanashi Prefecture, is the only museum in the world to exclusively feature Keith Haring’s artworks. It is now holding the exhibition “Keith Haring: Into 2025, Who could ever want this?” through May 18, 2025.

Born in 1958, Haring spent his childhood in the “Space Age” (a period marked by the escalating space exploration rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union and the public’s increasing admiration of space as well as its growing expectations for an information-based society). Haring became an artist representative of the 1980s. This exhibition traces Haring’s involvement in the anti-war and anti-nuclear movements during a time when the world possessed an unprecedented number of nuclear weapons. The show, through Haring’s keen insights into society, considers the meaning of “peace” and “freedom” in this moment, as we approach 80 years after the war.

The exhibition consists of more than 100 of Haring’s works and materials, including an untitled drawing exhibited for the first time in Japan that depicts a giant skeleton playing around with people, as well as photographs documenting a mural he had painted on the Berlin Wall. It begins with an episode from his childhood that reveals how he became interested in societal dynamics, and introduces mural paintings as well as projects for children in which he was involved around the world.

The exhibition also focuses on Haring’s visit to Hiroshima. The visit to the city was inspired by his work evoking a pair of doves, an illustration used as the main image for the “HIROSHIMA ‘88” charity concert held in the city on August 5 and 6th, 1988. The concert was designed to promote the construction of a nursing home for A-bomb survivors. The purpose of his visit, according to his journal, was to paint a mural.

In the decade or so before he died of complications from AIDS at the age of 31, Haring traveled around the world and produced a vast number of artworks. Wherever he went, he was accompanied by photographers and managers documenting his activities. The truth about why Haring’s mural does not exist in Hiroshima remains shrouded in mystery, as there is no record of his time in the city probably because the visit was a spur-of-the-moment decision.

With that in mind, starting in 2023, I frequented Hiroshima to conduct a survey of the situation. By visiting and interviewing people involved with the visit and reading the materials they provided, it gradually became clear to me what Haring saw, felt, and tried to express in Hiroshima. This exhibition chronologically presents a detailed schedule of Haring’s stay in Hiroshima and the background of his plans for the mural.

The subtitle of the exhibition, “Who could ever want this?” comes from the question Haring wrote in a journal entry dated July 28, the day he visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum — “Who could ever want this to happen again? To anyone?” The entry continues, “The frightening thing is people debate and discuss the arms race as if they were playing with toys. All of these men should have to come here, not to a bargaining table in some safe European country.”

In the notebooks and questionnaires for visitors to the exhibition, people have left their impressions such as, “It is very unfortunate that his ambition for the project in Hiroshima was not realized.”

What has been revealed in the survey will be shown at a related event, “Hiroshima Keith Haring Saw,” to be held in Hiroshima later this month. We invite everyone to visit.

(Imako Tanaka, curator of the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection)

Note:
The related event “Hiroshima Keith Haring Saw” will be held during the period July 21–25 at the former Hiroshima Branch of the Bank of Japan, an A-bombed building located in the city’s Naka Ward. In addition to materials related to Haring, the children’s workbook “Drawing Peace with Keith Haring” will be distributed free of charge to the first 50 visitors each day and workshops will be held in which anyone can participate. The museum is open from 10 am to 6 pm. Admission is free.

(Originally published on July 11, 2024)