Keith scene

Two days ago coming back from anUpper East Side hospital I transferred from the Q train to catch the 7th Ave subway. Having lived Brooklyn the last two decades I rarely have crossedthrough this station. coming to the top of the stairs, I knew where I was. Keith Haring had exploited this space for his black and white graffiti. They were clever, but I never thought to tear them from the ad placards. They belongered where they were. Everyone liked them there. Now his works are on the walls of museums, mansions, and the walls of friends' apartments. Back in the 1980s Keith Haring tagged New York City with his naked man grafitti on black s to the 7th Subway. I knew Keith from the downtown scene; Mudd club et al. Friendly, not friends, although he was always welcome everywhere. He didn't me to get in anywhere. I last saw him in Paris. We spoke of people. The gone and the going and them that were here. Arts Journal One of Haring’s subway pieces was captured by a photographer named Hank O’Neal who happened to be at the opening that day. I struck up a conversation with O’Neal, who was an older man with balding white hair. He told me the backstory behind the photo, which he just happened to pass at the Times Square subway station. He said he found the juxtopositon between Harings art and the cig ad of a woman jumping for joy with the words “Ahhh, the pleasure of,” interesting.