Alex Trimper: “What Keith Haring Has Meant to Me”

In the 1980s the world was a very different and less welcoming place for anyone questioning their sexuality and sexual identity. At the age of ten I knew I was different than my friends, even if I couldn’t quite explain how. Growing up, my mother worked in the world of fine art, and I had a sister who was involved in theater and dance. I had seen and heard about musicians like Elton John, Freddie Mercury, and Liberace, but because I was so young, I had no understanding of their sexual orientation. I only knew that they dressed, spoke, and behaved flamboyantly, and that everyone called them “queer” or “fags.” I certainly didn’t relate to them in any way.

In 1988, as a young teenager, I was living at a boarding school outside of London. The only opportunities I had to learn about being gay were via TV, newspapers, magazines, or the occasional campy role in a movie. Living at school also meant that everything I did was under close scrutiny both by faculty and fellow students, and anyone perceived as being “different” suffered the consequences.

By the time I was 16 I secretly identified as gay, but even through my early 20s gay pride was an unfamiliar concept to me. There was no Internet or social media where I could connect with a community of like-minded people. I couldn’t speak to my parents, friends, or teachers about being gay. The only celebrity I could relate to in any way was Keith Haring. He was young, smart, well-educated, and well-spoken—a t-shirt and blue jeans guy who wasn’t ostentatious, didn’t “dress up,” and acted “normal.” Most importantly to me, he was an out and proud gay man.

Even though Keith passed away when I was still only 16, reading about his life in art publications, watching interviews he did about his various murals all over the world, and seeing him fight for LGBTQ+ rights and AIDS awareness have kept me in awe my entire life.

In my late 30s I began working as an art dealer, and later I opened a gallery with my mother in Greenwich, Connecticut. I continued to learn as much as I could about Keith and his work, and eventually I was able to acquire a number of subway drawings, pen-on-paper drawings, several small paintings on canvas, original lithographs, first-edition posters, and an assortment of ephemera from the Pop Shop. My appreciation of who Keith was and how he influenced me as a young gay man fueled my passion for collecting his artwork, which continues to burn brightly today.

— Alex Trimper

All works in the BMAC exhibition “Keith Haring: Subway Drawings” are on loan courtesy of Alex Trimper.

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