Fiorucci Walls, a mural painted by Keith Haring and Angel Ortiz in 1983, is on view at City Center’s Shuman Lounge. If you don’t have tickets to a performance, the general public viewing will be October 29 and 30th, and November 5 and 6.
A popular artist and activist, Keith Haring was an influential part of the New York art scene during the 1980s. Inspired by graffiti art, he began drawing in New York’s subway stations, filling empty advertising spaces with chalk drawings. His aim was to make art accessible to everyone.
In 1983, legendary Milan-based designer Elio Fiorucci invited Haring to Milan to turn his store into a work of art. Fiorucci stripped his 5,000 square foot store bare, creating a blank wall canvas. Haring painted the shop in 13 hours, working overnight with his friend and collaborator Angel Ortiz (LA II), accompanied by the tunes of DJ Maurizio Marisco.
When the installation came down in 1984, Fiorucci saved the panels and kept them in storage for decades. The panel currently installed in City Center’s Shuman Lounge—on display in New York for the first time ever—was restored by Fiorucci in 1991.
A series of twenty portraits by Jeannette Montgomery Barron, known for her photographs of the New York art world in the 1980s, accompanies the panel just outside the Lounge.
City Center’s Shuman Lounge is located at 131 West 55th Street, NYC.
More of Keith Haring’s work with fellow artist, Angel Ortiz, was on view at The National Arts Club in 2019 in the exhibition, ‘Studio in the Street: Symbols ~ Totems ~ Cyphers‘.
Did you know that Keith Haring has a permanent mural in East Harlem? The recently restored Crack is Wack can be found in the Crack Is Wack Playground on East 128th Street and the Harlem River Drive. In addition, Haring’s ‘The Life of Christ’ can be found at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights.