KEITH HARING ON THE EAST VILLAGE

«It was just exploding. All kinds of new things were starting. In music, it was the punk and New Wave scene. There was a migration of artists from all over America to New York.  It was completely wild. And we controlled it ourselves. There was the group of artists called COLLAB-Collaborative Projects-doing exhibitions in abandoned buildings. And there was the club scene -The Mudd Club and Club 57 at St Mark's Place in the basement of a Polish church, which became our hangout, a clubhouse, where we could do whatever we wanted. We started doing theme parties-beatnik parties that were satires of the Sixties and parties with porno movies and stripteases. We showed early Warhol films. And there was this art out on the streets. Before I knew who he was, I became obsessed with Jean-Michel Basquiat's work».

Keith Haring
Rolling Stones magazine
August 10 1989 p.63