I went to Keith Haring art exhibit today. I enjoyed it more so than I thought. Here are few points I’ve learned.
1. He was gay
I didn’t know that he was gay. But in 2023 that’s hard to surprise many people, neither was I. What caught me off guard was the number of phallic drawings that was on exhibit. Dicks everywhere. Buildings made of dicks, minimalistic dicks, dicks drawn outside museums, and self portraits of, yes, dick!
2. Frugality
I knew what Keith Haring drew, babies, dogs, and people in those iconic thick lines. I didn’t know what he drew on. In first room of the exhibit, it’s filled with paintings and vases that makes you feel like you’re in a salon, back when paintings were sold in them. At first, bright colors and thick lines captures your eyes. Once your eyes get used to the colors and get a closer look at the works, you find that they aren’t drawn on canvases as you would usually find most works drawn on. No, they were drawn on tarpaulins, more commonly known as tarps.
I always thought that large paintings were great. After a quick visit to a local art material shop, I thought large paintings were for my eyes only. I never knew how expensive canvases were! Small ones starts at around $50 and, if my memory serves me correctly, the largest ones they had were $400. Boy is art expensive. Or so I thought until today’s exhibit. Limitations is the mother of creativity and Keith showed me that today, 33 years after his death. Thank you, Keith.
3. Prolific
There were videos playing in the exhibit. It showed Keith drawing. Perhaps it was because he was being recorded and rehearsed prior to it, but he drew very fast with precision. As an art student myself, I knew getting your hands dirty without worrying prior to it is important but seeing him just paint away with such thick lines, paint drooping all over the tarps, was fascinating.
Inspired by Keith’s works and from lack of goals I had starting this project, I purchased a book called “12 months to $1 million.” This isn’t sponsored or anything. It was just the first book I found (great SEO from him). I’ll be using it as my guide for 12 months to reaching $1 million and will be writing my journey.
Today Earned: $0
Yesterday spent: $2
Total Earned: $4.23