First posted Instagram 3 Feb 2020, updated 2026

Went to the #TammieBrown show yesterday (hilarious) so of course snapped the #KeithHaringMural, which is looking fine.

He painted it in 1984 on a big blank side wall, with the help of the students. He was just hitting his peak fame at the time, with his unique political cartoony graffiti- style art, going from subway walls to high end galleries, tragically passing away of AIDS complications just four years later. The mural became important pretty quickly as the only public Haring commission in Oz, but pretty quickly the red paint just faded.

When I was at the #NationalTrust in the 2000s the Public Art Committee was divided as to whether it should just be conserved as it was, or touched up. It was listed by Heritage Victoria in 2010, and in 2014 Arts Victoria stepped in, bringing in Italian conservator Antonio Rava, who did repaint, and I’m glad he did, it looked terrible before (pic 6). He also gave it a coat of something to prevent further deterioration. I guess as part of the repainting you can now see little edges of the faded paint peeking through (pic 7). The little door part down the bottom was stolen in 1990, returned in 2013, now held by the NGV, and the one on site is a replica. Haring also painted the NGV water wall, but that was temporary.

I suppose I must admit I quite like his stuff, but not an awful lot. Only pics 1,2 mine. Others Facebook or published articles.

• odds and sods