Tate Liverpool is the only Tate in the North of England. Set in the historic Royal Albert docks. Swiss-artist Ugo Rondinone’s has a 10-meter high sculpture within Mermaid Courtyard, outside Tate Liverpool. You know you’re in the right place when you see this.
The building the Tate is situated in still has a lot of the original integrity of the building itself, steel beams on show, red brick and stone floor which flows from outside the docks in. Throughout the three floors of the gallery space, there are beautiful large what looks like original windows which not only face outwards onto the dock but also across over the river Mersey. Of course, Tate Liverpool also has its own gift shop and cafe wouldn’t be a real gallery without them in my humble opinion.
Keith Haring Exhibition
I went to the Tate Liverpool times in 2019. What a beautiful time that was not having to walk around a one-way labyrinth to go back to see the same piece twice. The luxury! when there I saw the Keith Haring exhibition. Curated by Darren Pih.
What I really loved about this exhibition was how it really gave Keith’s larger works space to breath. Leaving the scale of the work to make a real impact on the viewer the moment you walked into the exhibition.
Something I really enjoyed about the creative direction of the exhibition was the use of the title cards which just said ‘untitled piece’ which I feel really inspires thought about the art piece in front of you and what the deeper themes of the works are.
What I find really powerful about Keith Haring work is the ability to convey such deep thought-provoking messages through such simple but bold means. Using mostly painted thick, bold lines and a limited colour pallet. In-person this graphic style for me is incredibly impressive as its too easy to disregard the skill and thought that goes into these works. I also think you can tell though the work Keith enjoyed expressing himself in such a bold visually rich way.
The way this piece was placed I found was very thought out as it pulls you round the corner by your interest. As you can see in my image viewers being pulled in by one of his other works, only to see the white wall coming to a sudden stop. This piece which as such a piercing face drawn in the centre makes you want to gravitate around the corner to look closer at the detail as there is so much being expressed though the mostly black line.
The red wall really grabs your attention at this point of the exhibition but before you can even realise this someone subconscious effect the curators played on you’re already astonished by the scale of this work and feel of how this piece could keep going on, which is something I’ve tried to convey in my photography of this piece. There’s so much going on it all started to blur into one and don’t know where to start to detect it. Having said that the more you observe this piece you’re able to home in on these small details which almost act as subplots to the bigger story being told through Keiths visual language this builds up to create an incredible scaled artwork.
I personally enjoyed the way photography and video had been included in this exhibition. I think this really showed Kieth creative mind and how it wanted to play around with ideas and new concepts, especially within his wordplay. What I find interesting and clever is the way Keith put himself centre within these images and videos. As Warhol did, around this time as well. I personally think it’s a great way to market themselves as Artists putting themselves within and at the forefront of the work. A smart way to become known within this art world and popular culture at the time.
Especially in the art climate in the 1980’s New York. I think Kieth’s style and work are clearly influenced by the fast pace atmosphere found in New York with the speed he would create his works in. The over-saturation of advertisement and fighting for his work to be viewed is something he did from the beginning jumping on the New York subways and claiming space for his art before another advertisement did. Kieth had the audacity to do this and share his work with the world to create a name for himself. This is what he did and this is why the art world will not be forgetting his impact anytime soon.