Keith Haring, Derrick Adams and Roy Lichtenstein

Keith Haring 1958-1990

Keith Haring was one of the twentieth century's most innovate artists. Haring took inspiration from Pierre Alechinsky, one of Europe's most avant-garde artists. Alechinsky was  born in Brussels, but has spent most of his life living, painting and teaching in Paris. At the age of 94, Alechinsky is still very active. A survey of his work was shown at the Museum of Modern Art in 2017 and, in 2018, he was awarded Japan's Praemium Imperiale Art award for his work.

The NSU Art Museum if Fort Lauderdale has put together an exhibit that combines the works of Haring and Alechinsky. Many of Alechinsky's paintings in the exhibit are from the museum's collection of CoBrA artists, a movement that originated in 1948, of which Alechinsky was one of its founders. CoBrA was named for the three northern European cities that its founders originated from - Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam.

Keith Haring described Alechinsky's works as, "spontaneous, truthful, and real," characteristics that can also be attributed to Haring's own work. Keith Haring and Pierre Alechinsky will be on view at the NSU Art Museum from February 27 through October 2, 2022.

Derrick Adams 1970 - present

Derrick Adams is not just a painter, he is also an educator, curator and community activist. He has been busy creating an artists' retreat in his hometown of  Baltimore and has worked with young artists in New York, where he lives and works.

The Dreamyard In School program, established in 1994 to encourage children in the Bronx to develop their artistic skills, has created a jigsaw puzzle with of one of Adams' paintings on one side and works by middle school students, inspired by Adams' work, on the other.Proceeds from this project will be donated to the DreamYard scholarship fund.

Derrick Adams teaches at Brooklyn College, and is very much a part of the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, where his studio is located. A PBS documentary, aired in April last year, looks at his work, his process and his desire to show how "relaxation can be a radical political act for Black people."

Roy Lichtenstein 1923-1997

Before Roy Lichtenstein's rise to fame in New York in the 1960s, he lived and worked in Cleveland with his first wife, Isabel, and their two sons. It was Isabel who supported the family with her successful interior design business, while Lichtenstien helped by hanging curtains for her clients, working as a window dresser, draftsman and giving art lessons.

It was a time when he was honing his style, but had little success selling his work.

The family moved to New York to help further his career, to the detriment of hers.

The PBS documentary, Isabel & Roy, captures the upward spiral of Roy's life and the downward spiral of Isabel's.

In the early years, the 1950s, it was probably hard for the couple to imagine Lichtenstein's success, and that one of his works, Masterpiece, would some day sell for $165 million.

Please contact us if you would like more information about the works of Keith Haring, Derrick Adams, Roy Lichtenstein or any of the other fine art available at VFA.