JAC Talk with Brad Gooch
New York Times Best Selling Author Brad Gooch on his new book Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring
Saturday, May 4, 2024
4 pm
$15 General Admission
ABOUT THE EVENT:
Biographer Brad Gooch is coming to Jamestown for an early stop on a national book tour for RADIANT: The Life and Line of Keith Haring, already hailed as the definitive account of the iconic American artist.
Join us for a conversation with The Public’s Radio host Luis Hernandez and this New York Times best-selling author.
JAC Talk is a regular program hosted by the Jamestown Arts Center to bring together artists and creative minds to share their stories with the Jamestown community and beyond.
ABOUT THE BOOK:
Read the New York Times Book Review: “In his thoroughly researched “Radiant,” Brad Gooch considers the short, blazing life of the '80s artist, activist and man about downtown…”
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 In the stations, black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads, and unsigned chalk drawings often popped up on these blank spaces.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.
“It’s all here: the grade school Walt Disney and Dr. Seuss; the adolescent acid trips; the fondness for Post-it notes and flying saucers; the long tails of Dubuffet and Burroughs; the encounters with Madonna, Warhol, and one game-changer of a subway Johnny Walker Red poster. Brad Gooch takes us deep into Keith Haring’s imagination while somehow managing to fix the aura and energy of the 1980s New York art scene to the page. A keen-eyed, beautifully written biography, atmospheric, exuberant, and as radiant as they come.”
NOW AVAILABLE
Hard copies will be available for purchase at the Jamestown Arts Center on May 4.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Brad Gooch is a poet, novelist, and biographer whose previous ten books include Flannery: A Life of Flannery O’Connor, which was a National Book Critics Circle Award finalist, New York Times Notable Book of the Year, and New York Times bestseller; City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O’Hara; Godtalk: Travels in Spiritual America; and the memoir Smash Cut. He is the recipient of National Endowment for the Humanities and Guggenheim fellowships and lives in New York City. Learn more here.
Photo by Jack Pierson