Brad Gooch At Town Hall To Promote New Biography “Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring”

Keith Haring was one of the iconic figures of 1980s New York City along with fellow artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, emerging pop superstar Madonna, and the Club Kids haunting Area, Danceteria, Limelight, Mudd Club, Palladium, Paradise Garage, Pyramid and the Tunnel. Oh, and a certain grubby handed slumlord from Queens named Donald Trump.

Those clubs (and their Kids) are long gone along with Basquiat who didn’t even make it out of the decade (Madonna and Trumpf are both still lingering around however…) and Keith Haring died in February of 1990 at the age of 31. But, both Basquiat and Haring live on, partly due to their Estates who aggressively market their work and imagery; just about every major fashion retailer/designer has at some point, featured the pair’s work on a sweatshirt or baseball cap.

But, both also live on because people still relate to their work. Haring’s remarkable line, fine tuned as graffiti art in the subway stations of New York City still manages to captivate us with their charm as well as their social messages. Who doesn’t smile when they see his trademark “Radiant Baby” image emblazoned on yet another t-shirt from The Gap or H&M?

Haring lived a lot of life in his 31 years and now a new biography from acclaimed writer Brad Gooch, Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring is being released by Harper/Collins this month. Gooch, who was also on the fashionable scene in the 80s as a young model, had access to the Haring Archive and was able to speak to many who knew Haring during the heady days of NYC’s queer, artistic, nightlife heyday that also coincided with the horrors of the AIDS epidemic. Even as AIDS ultimately ravaged Haring’s life, the artist used his talents to fight for funding and new treatments for HIV/AIDS with his artwork becoming an enduring legacy of that fight during that time.

Brad Gooch will be on a nationwide tour this month promoting his new book and makes a stop in Seattle on Tuesday, March 19th for a conversation at Town Hall. For tickets to the event, go to https://townhallseattle.org/event/brad-gooch/

To snag a copy of the book in Seattle, head to Elliott Bay Book Company, either in person at the store on Capitol Hill, or order online at: https://www.elliottbaybook.com/item/cBeH0n3IZ8znXzIomzOEyg

More on Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring:

A stunning life of the iconic American artist, Keith Haring, by the acclaimed biographer Brad Gooch.

In the 1980s, the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces. These temporary chalk drawings numbered in the thousands and became synonymous with a city as diverse as it was at war with itself, beset with poverty and crime but alive with art and creative energy. And every single one of these drawings was done by Keith Haring.

Keith Haring was one of the most emblematic artists of the 1980s, a figure described by his contemporaries as “a prophet in his life, his person, and his work.” Part of an iconic cultural crowd that included Andy Warhol, Madonna, and Basquiat, Haring broke down the barriers between high art and popular culture, creating work that was accessible for all and using it as a means to provoke and inspire radical social change. Haring died of AIDS in 1990. To this day, his influence on our culture remains incontrovertible, and his glamorous, tragically short life has a unique aura of mystery and power.

Brad Gooch, noted biographer of Flannery O’Connor and Frank O’Hara, was granted access to Haring’s extensive archive. He has written a biography that will become the authoritative work on the artist. Based on interviews with those who knew Haring best and drawing from the rich archival history, Brad Gooch sets out to capture the magic of Keith Haring: a visionary and timeless icon.