Customer Reviews

Drawing the Line: Keith Haring [VHS]

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As a high school art teacher in California, I am always looking for interesting art videos for my students (most art videos even put me to sleep). This Keith Haring video has interviews showing how Haring started his art on the walls of subway stations in N.Y. and proceeded to become famous throughout the world. (Did he "sellout" or not? You decide) My students love this video!

This work was painfully de-gayed. This film made it look like Keith Haring cared about causes for communities in which he was not a member. He was valiant on those issues too. However, he was a proud gay man. He made art that had homoerotic themes. Andy Warhol was a mentor to him, but not just as an artist, both were openly gay men in the heavily homophobic 1980s. This disc showed some of Haring's safer sex messages, but they just breeze past the art he produced on a large pink triangle. At the end, they say he died in 1990. However, they should have said, "He died in 1990 due to complications from AIDS." If Madonna could do AIDS activism in Keith's name during the time this documentary was made, then this documentary could have been bolder. Keith worked hard to liberate gay men. This disc is not a respectful tribute to him. It's offensive in its erasure.

I've used this video for my high school students and it is perfect for teaching art because of the succinct content and short 30 minute length. Good introduction to Keith Haring and by no means a thorough account of the complexities of this artist. I'd recommend reading his published journals for greater insights.

This film is only 27 minutes long, but it packs quite a punch into it's short time frame. Beginning in the early 80's, it documents the rise of Haring to stardom and goes on to touch on all his best features in life. Most of Haring's work was immediate and direct and the documentary touches on this regularly. Some highlights of the film are Haring working with kids, the artist painting on the Berlin Wall, and Keith working with a number of social and cultural issues. To top it all off Haring is interveiwed throughout and explains his process and ideas. A really great documentary for your collection