Kenny Scharf & Keith Haring: K! K!

Jun 06, 2026 (Sat) － May 16, 2027 (Sun)

Closed: Wednesdays (except national holidays in Japan), December 31, and January 1
*Open on Wednesday, December 30, 2026.
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Organized by Nakamura Keith Haring Collection
Supported by Yamanashi Prefecture, Yamanashi Prefectural Board of Education, Hokuto City, Hokuto City Board of Education
In cooperation with Kenny Scharf Studio, The Keith Haring Foundation, Nanzuka, Sogetsu Foundation

メディアの方へ

In 1980s New York, particularly in the East Village, art moved beyond museums and galleries and became embedded in the fabric of the city. Subways, walls, and streets served as sites of experimentation, where artists worked freely and the boundaries between commercial culture and the underground began to dissolve. At the center of this shift were Kenny Scharf (b. 1958) and Keith Haring (1958–1990).
Born in the same year, both artists moved to New York in 1978. After meeting at the School of Visual Arts, they formed a close bond, living and working in constant proximity. Within a downtown network of artists, performers, and musicians, their work took shape through shared spaces, daily exchange, and a culture of experimentation that pushed against the limits of what art could be.
Centered on the relationship between Scharf and Haring, this exhibition highlights their collaborative projects and the reciprocal influence between their practices while presenting a newly considered perspective on Haring. At the same time, through a range of paintings and sculptures, including new works created by Scharf specifically for this exhibition, it offers an immersive view into the visual world he has developed over nearly five decades.

WHAT’S IN THE SHOW

The exhibition moves through three sections. The first centers on Haring, placing early and late works from the museum’s collection in direct dialogue, tracing the philosophy that ran through his practice from the subway to the end of his life. The second brings Scharf and Haring together: paintings, sculptures, and collaborative projects that reveal how deeply each shaped the other. The third is Scharf’s — recent paintings and sculptures, including new work made for this exhibition, alongside one of his most celebrated installations.

COSMIC CAVERN

Scharf’s Cosmic Cavern has been a living, evolving work since he first presented it in 1981 — the year he and Haring shared a studio. Objects fill every surface of a darkened room and blaze to life under black light: you don’t look at it so much as fall into it. Reconfigured especially for this exhibition, it remains one of the most iconic works in Scharf’s oeuvre.

RESTLESS — KEITH HARING IN BRAZIL (Documentary Film, Japanese Premiere)

On view for the first time in Japan, Restless — Keith Haring in Brazil (2013) follows Haring’s deep and unexpected connection to a small fishing village in Bahia, where he made murals and floor works across several visits. It was Scharf who first brought him there, in 1984. Years later, Scharf returned to restore those works. The film captures an intimate side of both artists that the paintings alone cannot — and asks quietly what it means to keep faith with a friendship across time.

ARCHIVAL MATERIALS & COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

Drawing on Scharf’s personal archive and the museum’s unparalleled Haring collection, K! K! also presents photographs, original merchandise, and documentation of collaborative projects — much of it never before exhibited publicly.

Artists

Kenny Scharf (b. 1958, California)

A defining figure of the 1980s New York art world, Kenny Scharf emerged alongside Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat and has been making vital, wildly inventive work ever since. Drawing on American popular culture, science fiction, and the visual language of cartoons, his practice spans painting, sculpture, video, installation, and performance — all of it driven by vivid color, organic form, and a humor that never loses its edge. He has also been a committed environmentalist for decades, and that urgency runs through his work. His career spans fifty years and remains as vital as ever. kennyscharf.com
https://kennyscharf.com/

Keith Haring (1958–1990)

Keith Haring started drawing on the blank black paper of unused advertising panels in the New York City subway in the early 1980s — and almost immediately, people stopped to watch. His bold, graphic, unmistakable imagery carried messages about love, death, sexuality, and political resistance, and he became one of the most recognized artists of his generation. In 1986 he opened the Pop Shop, selling merchandise as a deliberate extension of his belief that art belonged to everyone. Diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, he established the Keith Haring Foundation the following year and worked without pause until his death at 31 in 1990.

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