Pompous art drivel or "how I got my degree without really trying"

Last night, I went to the opening of the Keith Haring show at Katy's gallery. Here are some pictures (click for the big versions):




Some of Haring's work is so simplistic that it's easy for me just to read it as straightforward, though pretty, icons. Like reading road signs, you can decipher these symbols on a purely symbolic level- working through the canvas by stopping here, speeding up there, or yielding as directed. But, ignoring that, Katy tells me that some of these were done in one sitting by Haring and I'm amazed by the precision of the strokes (that is not a pun about the Mickey above) and his perfect, innate sense of geometry. We were also talking about how light-hearted and fun these paintings are but there's this unavoidable sadness surrounding Haring's death at such a young age. There's a connection there, I think. The blitheness of the work is weghted down by the death from, of all things, a sexual disease.
Still, a mickey mouse whacking off is pretty funny.