Richard Corman's Portrait of Keith Haring at Frevo

I Shot The Messenger! is a look into Keith Haring's world and persona, shot by Richard Corman in his Broadway studio. Showcasing 5 never-before-seen portraits, Keith Haring is blown up to near-life-size scale and presented in electrifying and bold colors. This exhibition follows nearly a year after Corman's previous solo, Basquiat — A Portrait, and represents yet another installment of his ongoing work to capture and represent the human spirit throughout history.

The subject this time: Keith Haring, photographed in 1985 at his 676 Broadway studio, while Richard was on assignment for L'Uomo Vogue. Having worked with some of the most prominent figures of each era, it made sense for Keith Haring to end up in front of Richard's lens, being a forerunner of the 1980s pop art movement in New York.

Richard speaks on this encounter:

"To my surprise, when Keith answered the door, this unassuming building revealed to me a labyrinth of finished and unfinished artworks, bursting with color. I was familiar with Keith's graffiti in the subway stations, his murals, and the unique language of his art which raised awareness of AIDS and fought against the infiltration of illegal drugs.

However, while positioning him around the space and working to capture something special during our time together, I realized this person was undeniably an original. His calm presence defied his free spirit, which revealed itself as he placed himself in front of my camera. These images offer up a glimpse at the confidence and price that Keith had in his own unique language for communicating his message to the world."

Having a long print relationship with Richard, we worked with him to produce this exhibition, however, on a level we had not done so before. Richard's studio already had a framing brief in mind, and needed both the prints and presentation to be as vibrant and bold as the paintings Richard saw in Keith's studio that day. The portraits were positioned against curated Pantone shades, color-matched to perfection, and printed flawlessly on Hahnemühle Photo Rag Ultrasmooth. These prints were some of the largest we had ever done for Richard!

I Shot The Messenger! will be open for viewing at Frevo until November 11, 2022.

‍Exhibition photos are courtesy of Frevo and the artist, Richard Corman.