A Florence Show: Keith Haring & Street Art

Until February 4, 2018: MADE IN NEW YORK & THE TRUE ORIGIN OF STREET ART. Palazzo del Medici Riccardi, via Cavour 3. Open daily (closed Wednesday) from 9 am – 7 pm. Free admission.

A Renaissance building is hosting a combination retrospective focused on Paolo Buggiani with, The True Origin of Street Art and Keith Haring, Made in New York (Subway Drawings) close to the Duomo Cathedral complex.

Paolo Buggiani, a Tuscan native, returns to Florence to showcase his work of the past 40 years. Beginning in 1950s Buggiani worked at the Rome’s Schneider gallery, before moving to Paris. Later, he was offered the chance to exhibit his paintings in the United States, specifically New York. Here Buggiani remained in the city for a few years creating a new version of abstract art that he eventually brought back to Italy in 1968. Through many of these works, Buggiani intended to convey a political message.

During his time in New York, Buggiani was a part of a group called Street Artists, and together exchanged ideas and experiences inspiring each other’s own art form. He met creatives such as Andy Warhol and photographers like Diane Arbus, all of which inspired pop art and the transition of underground movements into contemporary art.

Keith Haring (1958 – 1990) also belonged to the group. Both men eventually became close friends who worked alongside one another during the 80s ‘time of revolution’: rebellion, sexual freedom and political unrest.

Early on Haring created a number of chalk drawings, which he distributed in public places all over the city. Prior to meeting Haring, Buggiani rescued his chalk drawings from being tossed and replaced with advertisements in the early 1980s, and these are now presented in the Palazzo Medici for everyone to see. At the time, the images appeared to Buggiani as a simple form of explanation about the political and social atmosphere around the world. These, however, became special because of their ability to transmit a message without using words.

The show begins with the preserved drawings which Haring created on subway walls in the late 1970s, and includes over 20 other works. Following this, a large section of the exhibition displays Buggiani’s installations and photographs from all over the world, most of which were created in the streets of New York. Images include urban snow scenes and the burning silhouette of a family in front of the United Nations building, meant to commemorate the anniversary of the bombing in Hiroshima.

The influence of street art has become a movement of urban action, which translates into a social and communications phenomenon. The gallery also showcases works by fellow “Street Companions” Richard Hambleton, Ken Hiratsuka, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, Les Levine and David Salle. (rachel hinojosa)