Putnam Collection Welcomes Keith Haring Acrobats to NEO

The John and Mildred Putnam Sculpture Collection [1] is especially visible in this community, right now, as one day following the reception celebrating the addition of work #45 to University Circle - the stunning "Inner Circle", by David Deming [2] - the collection welcomed to NEO the landmark sculpture "Acrobats", by important regional artist Keith Haring (born in 1958 in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, qualifying him for the collection).

From a description of the sculpture by the Public Art Fund, of New York City [3]: "Keith Haring conceived Acrobats one year after the first exhibition of his free-standing steel pieces at Leo Castelli Gallery in 1985. Depicting two figures balanced in a remarkable gravity-defying pose, Acrobats is a work of incredible simplicity and vitality. Haring, a quintessentially urban artist, always sought to engage the public directly, from his earliest chalk drawings in New York subway stations to his final mural in a maternity hospital in Monte Carlo. In its temporary home in Battery Park City, Acrobats continues Haring's enduring vision of inserting art into the environs of our everyday lives." The work is a multiple, which has been produced through the Keith Haring Foundation [4] in several dimensions.

The Putnam Collection placed their "Acrobats" outside the Veale Center [5], which is the convocation and athletic complex for Case Western Reserve University, and so very much fits the "environs of our everyday lives."... in this case, it certainly enhances the environs (Case website photo, below)

Putnam Curator Evelyn Kiefer said students seemed to smile and enjoy the new Haring, as they saw it being installed, so I suspect this addition to the campus will be quite popular and become well know in the community... Haring does have a very likable quality!

A strong and important sculpture, this is a must see for fans of contemporary American art and, of course, the widely popular Kieth Haring.