00:00Just a few blocks away from Columbia University is the largest cathedral in North America.
00:06It is also the unlikely home to one of the final works of legendary artist Keith Haring.
00:11So we're in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in the Chapel of St. Columba, which
00:15is one of the great seven chapels in the cathedral.
00:18The triptych behind me is called the Life of Christ, and it was designed by Keith Haring.
00:22He's one of the great artists of the 20th century and a great New Yorker.
00:25Haring, who was born in Cutstown, Pennsylvania in 1958, skyrocketed to fame in the 1980s
00:31in the downtown New York art scene.
00:34Haring used his art to spur serious discussion about social and political life, especially
00:38raising awareness about the AIDS crisis.
00:41In 1990, Keith Haring is controversial, extremely controversial.
00:46In the height of the AIDS crisis, where the church stood on LGBT people and on disease
00:51and even in art, like claiming the Jesus figure for these men that are dying in our nation,
00:57extremely controversial.
00:59By 1987, Haring, who is openly gay, was diagnosed with HIV.
01:04Shortly after, it developed into full-blown AIDS.
01:07What was happening to gay men during the 80s, it was really dangerous to be them.
01:12The times were always like that for someone.
01:15And part of the work of the church, maybe a central work of the church, is to be on the
01:19side of the people for whom that is happening in this time.
01:22That we walk the way of the cross.
01:24And what is more the cross than people dying of AIDS neglected by our government?
01:28Didn't have to die.
01:29You know, the people dying of police violence, it doesn't have to happen.
01:32Haring's condition worsened, but he never stopped creating.
01:35In the final weeks of his life, he created the Life of Christ triptych.
01:39The piece was made from clay, and then cast in bronze and white gold, weighing over 600 pounds.
01:45There are three original pieces that were donated to churches that were important to Haring,
01:49in San Francisco, Paris, and New York.
01:52The ministry of this place is why I keep Haring wanted this year.
01:55And you know, what I love is, no matter how big you are,
01:58the idea that your art should be on an altar of a great cathedral is pretty magnificent, right?
02:04And I can imagine a world, frankly, in which this is created and goes into the basement.
02:10Because there's a lot of great pieces here.
02:12I think the fact that it's up and displayed and has been displayed,
02:15it's not displayed as art, but displayed in the function of an altar as a triptych,
02:18is a tribute to both the cathedral and to Keith Haring, that it is understood as religious art.
02:24I mean, this image, which again is iconic, it's on everyone's shopping bag now, right?
02:27Everyone uses it.
02:28The idea that this is religious art that would be used at an altar is a pretty radical idea.
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