Keith Haring's 'Hidden' Mural Heads To Auction, Sparks Emotion

NEW YORK CITY, NY — My first Keith Haring moment came in 1983, when I was a student at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Journalism professor Richard Goldstein, longtime editor at the Village Voice, took us to the Tony Shafrazi Gallery to see the work of a young up-and-coming graffiti artist, who had attended SVA just a few years earlier.

Stepping inside that gallery, a visitor was just . . .immersed in Haring's vision, a vision that literally came alive and enveloped, with art on the walls, on the ceiling, everywhere. Dancing figures, barking dogs, radiant babies — Haring had created a veritable language, a way to create art not just for museums but for the everyman. His work was created on the subway, on walls and buildings — and devotion his social activism and public art became his hallmark.

Later, Goldstein showed us his own Keith Haring work, a piece given to him by the artist he'd championed from the first. That, according to all interviewed for this piece, was the kind of man Keith Haring was — generous with his talent, his time, his words.

As a young reporter for the West Side Spirit, I met Haring at an event at the Javits Center, an AmFAR event hosted by Elizabeth Taylor and, while the night was studded with luminaries including top super models and Taylor herself, it was when I stopped in front of Haring, who was with Andy Warhol, that I found myself speechless.

I saw his work at a celebration in 1986 at a Statue of Liberty celebration, where Haring's massive "CityKids Speak On Liberty Banner"spoke to his passion for kids and creating art not just for, but with, them.

It was the art Haring created for kids that speaks to his heart. Haring, whose subway graffiti — white chalk on empty black advertising panels — massive murals, and iconic figures including the Radiant Baby and Barking Dog, defined the art world since he burst onto the scene for a shimmering, ephemeral moment in time in the 1980s, died of AIDS at just 31 years old.

But his works have lived on— his energy, vibrancy and love for children a legacy he shared with the world. Now, the first ever Keith Haring mural ever to come to auction is displayed at Bonhams, auctioneers and appraisers in New York City, and will be offered up for sale on Nov. 13.

And that mural captures the essence of the man Haring was — the story behind it, a story of of a young man who understood kids who needed to be understood. The massive, 85' mural was painted in a stairwell at Grace House, a former convent owned by the Ascension Church in Morningside Heights on the Upper West Side and the home, for a time, of the Catholic Youth Organization, beginning in 1977. Later, after Grace House was shuttered, the building's rooms were rented; the building returned to the Church of the Ascension in the early 2000s.

For many, the news that the mural was being sold by Bonhams auctioneers and appraisers on behalf of Ascension Church — the work is expected to bring in between $3 and $5 million — to fund major capital projects at the parish, including significant accessibility upgrades, sparked a range of emotions, from joy at its preservation to sadness that it could not have remained in its original space, as Haring intended.

"Context is everything," one woman wrote on social media.

Gil Vazquez, acting director of the Haring Foundation, spoke on the mural's sale.

"We are a bit disappointed that the building was not sold by the archdiocese with the mural intact. We were in talks with someone in the archdiocese who we later learned had no authority over the decision," he said. "We knew of an organization who was interested in purchasing the building as is with the mural intact. The Ali Forney Center, an organization that helps to house homeless LGBTQ+ kids, would have been a great fit for that building."

However, Vazquez said, the archdiocese did not alert the Foundation about its intentions to remove the mural.

"We would have advised against it. It is not easy as it may seem to sell one ton chunks of wall, let alone 15 of them. The Boys Club of Pitt Street mural by Haring is an example of a painstaking removal that has not since sold."

The Haring Foundation itself has no intention of bidding on the Grace House mural, Vazquez said.

Vazquez, however, said, despite the fact that the Foundation had not been told about the mural's sale, "The silver lining is that the Grace House mural survives. Certainly not in its original context but it survives nonetheless. Murals by their very nature are ephemeral so to have one from 1983 / 4 that can be enjoyed by the public hopefully is a plus."

Rev. Daniel S. Kearney, Pastor of Ascension Church, spoke about the decision to sell the work: "Ascension Church has been great stewards of this mural since it was first painted, and intentionally partnered with world class art conservation and logistics experts to save and preserve the integrity of the art, so that it can continue to serve as a powerful legacy of Keith Haring's work and the way in which he reached out to communities outside of the art world. The Grace House Mural not only reveals Keith Haring's innate humanity, but also the strong charitable commitment in his art and his dedication to young people."

The building, a component of the Ascension Church complex, will be for sale at a later date. In order to ensure the preservation of the mural, the decision was taken to remove the mural and to offer it at auction, Kearney said.

After the sale, Ascension Parish will also make a donation to the Keith Haring Foundation from the auction proceeds.

The process of extricating the mural cost $900,000 and took two years, Kearney said.

“The leadership of Ascension Church went above and beyond in stewarding these remarkable murals. At their direction, we explored all options to ensure the individual figures were extracted and stabilized in exceptional condition,” said Jeff Greene, chairman and founder of EverGreene Architectural Arts. “Through two years of planning, analysis, and proofs-of-concept, EverGreene ensured the removals maintained the mural’s contextual integrity within the building and their relationship to the architecture. In some cases, this included retrieving and incorporating architectural elements, such as plaques, which contributed to the original design intent.”

Videos were taken during the extrication so the mural can potentially be reconstructed, Bonhams said.

Step inside Bonhams and the 13 figures, carefully cut from the Grace House walls, are waiting behind a curtain and blown up photos of Haring in his element, out laughing and dancing in the edgy, gritty downtown New York scene of the 1980s. Music from the time echoes in the space, "Girls Just Want to Have Fun," "We Built This City," and other songs that might've been played in Danceteria, the Tunnel, the Limelight, Palladium or Paradise Garage, all haunts Haring frequented along with contemporaries including Madonna, Jean Paul Basquiat, Kenny Scharf and, of course Warhol.

Close your eyes at Bonhams surrounded by Haring's joyful, dancing figures, his burst of life and energy, hear the music — and maybe, just for a minute, it's the 1980s and Keith Haring is alive again, smiling and singing and always, always painting.

Certainly, the man who was there the night Haring painted the mural, remembers Haring's vibrant spirit. Gary Mallon, the director of the Grace House youth center at the time, said a group of the young people from the Paradise Garage — including Benny Soto and David Almodovar — invited Haring back to the Grace House, on a night around 1984.

"What kills me is that Keith came and did that mural for the kids that came to my program," Mallon said. "It had nothing to do with the church, and now the church is going to benefit."

Mallon said some have said the mural shouldn't be removed from the place Haring created the work.

Asked about his memories of that fateful night, Mallon said: "It's a long time ago, but I remember it vividly. I had met Keith several times; Keith was close friends with a number of kids that used to go to Grace House, including Benny Soto."

Haring, he said, told him that he'd be happy to come and do something at Grace House. "And I said, 'yeah, sure,'" Mallon remembers. "He was a lovely guy, generous, humble. He was just the nicest guy, very self-effacing."

Haring, he said, was generous with party invitations, including one in the shape of a box for an event at the Palladium Mallon attended, where Haring was surrounded by Andy Warhol, Brooke Shields, and Boy George. "You didn't expect this guy who knew so many people at the Palladium to just say, 'Hi, Gary! Are you having enjoying yourself — having a good time?' He was very sweet with people. He was a really genuine guy."

On that night in March, some kids at Grace House, which did weekend retreats, asked if Haring could create a mural in the space. "I was a little bit nervous. Some of Keith's drawings were a little risque, with penises. I asked him not to do those, I would get in trouble, it was a Catholic organization. He came and he had this can of black paint and a thick paint brush. He did the Radiant Baby first. There used to be a big crucifix in that spot — we moved the crucifix to the dining room — but he took it down so he could paint the Radiant Baby on the wall. He went up the stairs and just sketched them out and just did them. I said, 'It's dripping,' and he said, 'It's okay, it's supposed to drip.'"

Mallon lived on the third floor and when Haring got to his doorway, he painted a figure just diving inside. "He said, 'At the end of day when you need to get away from the kids, that’s you diving in the door," Mallon said. (The original door from Grace House is included in the auction).

Mallon, who plans to go see the mural on exhibit before the auction, reflected on the work. "I benefitted from that mural," he said. "I saw it every day for six years. I loved it. It was so happy and joyful and beautiful."

But it was Haring's impact on the kids that resonated most, Mallon said. "The kids recognized Keith's art," he said. "You'd walk into this religious retreat house and you'd see Keith Haring's art everywhere, and people would say, 'Is that really Keith Haring's work?' and the kids would say, 'Yeah, he's a friend of ours.' Keith was so generous. A good guy. He did lots of things for people, murals. Every time you went to his studio he'd give you T shirts, buttons, T shirts to take home with you."

Some have asked why the piece wasn't signed or dated. "It didn't need to be," Mallon said. "We were there when he did it."

One time, Mallon said, the kids at the Ascension School next door were having a dance but the DJ didn't show up. "Keith said, 'You can't have a dance without a DJ. So he called his boyfriend Juan DuBose, who came and was the DJ for the entire night, which was incredible. That's the kind of thing Keith did. He loved kids and they loved him."

Haring, he said, was always respectful of the kids, giving them jobs. Haring, Mallon said, used to come to Grace House sometimes "and just hang out. He was quiet. One night he came and hung out in my apartment with the kids and just sat. The next day he called and said, 'That was one of the best nights I've had in so long. I just really enjoyed being there.'"

Haring, Mallon said, "was just a good, good person. He was really wonderful to those kids."

Of the mural, Mallon said while it was sad to see the walls literally removed, "I'm happier they took it off rather than painted over it...I loved the Radiant Baby, that was beautiful. As soon as you walked in the door, it hit you. I remember asking Keith, 'What does the Radiant Baby mean?' And he said, 'It really means whatever you want it to mean."

Another section of the mural was memorable, Mallon said.

"There was a plaque for Joseph P. Grace, honoring him for his service to the CYO and Keith made the plaque a head and put a body on it. I remember thinking, 'I'm going to get in trouble for that one.' But I didn't," he said. The plaque is also part of the sale.

The entire time Haring was painting the mural Mallon was walking alongside him, as was Soto, holding the paint can. "He did the whole thing in 40 minutes, an hour. It was really fast. But he was used to doing things in the subway; he had to be fast."

Haring's life was cut short too soon, before treatment made living with AIDS manageable, Mallon said. "That's the sad thing, about him dying so young," he said. "If he had been able to stay healthy another five years, he probably would have lived."

The mural, however, was part of Haring's lasting legacy.

Robert Savina, who lived in the building in later years, and who fought eviction and commenced a lawsuit to protect the mural, reacted to the news that it had gone to auction. "I'm shocked, but I'm not shocked," he said.

His journey with the mural began was he was working on a film shoot. When brought to the building, he said, "Is this Keith Haring?"

Savina asked about the building itself and was told the former nuns' rooms were being rented; one was still available and it became his home. "I lived on the fourth floor and it was just wonderful, walking up and down the stairs when I didn't take the elevator. That mural just sort of embraced you as you walked up and down."

Haring's work so moved him that Savina later got a tattoo of his favorite figure from the mural on his left arm. "So that's with me now," he said.

Although he didn't know Haring, moving to New York in 1985, at the height of the AIDS crisis, Savina said, "I had a lot of friends die. There's an emotional connection to that era and everything that has to do with it."

At the time, Savina and another tenant commenced a lawsuit against the church to fight eviction — and save the mural. "When the church decided to sell, we asked, 'What will happen to the mural if you sell the building?'" The fear at the time was that the building would be razed, he said.

He and others formed a tenants' association and retained an attorney "but people quickly jumped ship," fearful of being put on a "landlords' blacklist" in New York City, he said. "That scared a lot of people off."

After the last tenant left, a woman he'd teamed up with on the litigation, Savina found him living alone in the building with the mural.

The mural's fate weighs heavily, he said. "My sadness comes from the fact that these figures were separated like children," he said. "It is really a pain in my heart. I did try to keep them together."

Savina wrote an original play, "The Lost Keith Haring Mural, Or How to Survive the Apocalypse," about the experience; a reading was done in September and he hopes to bring the work to New York.

While he is happy the mural remains, Savino said, "It became this sort of organic, living thing in my head. Now they're art objects, sort of like archeological objects in a museum and it's different. It's never going to be the same. So the mural, and Grace House, are history now, and that's really sad."

Savino went to visit the mural last weekend.

"I went to Bonhams today to see the Keith Haring mural exhibit before it is auctioned off," he wrote on Facebook. "It felt as if I was going to pay my last respects to a close friend. I was the only one in the gallery for a long while. The curator came in and introduced herself and I told her I was the last person to live the building and showed her my tattoo... I sat for a while, said my good-bye — and then left."

Others, however, laud the efforts to preserve the mural for posterity.

“Keith Haring’s Grace House Mural encapsulates a classic New York story by the ultimate New York artist," said Bruno Vinciguerra, Bonhams executive chairman. "Haring’s ingenuity and spontaneity shine through this astonishing monumental work. Its history and its composition make it one of the most exciting lots to come on to the market this year."

The auction takes place on Wednesday, Nov. 13 at 5 p.m.