Painter and muralist Kenny Scharf emerged from New York's East Village in the 1980s, an exciting time and place as young rule-breakers infused a staid art world with energy and attitude. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he was inspired to relocate by artist and scene-maker Andy Warhol. As Scharf puts it, "He made art fun."
He arrived at the School of Visual Arts just as punk was morphing into postpunk, new wave, and hip-hop (Scharf would end up designing the cover for the B-52's 1985 album Bouncing off Satellites).
As the b-boy culture of breakdancing and graffiti art took off, Scharf and his friends provided visuals that would come to define the era. Besotted with the pop culture of the space age, especially The Jetsons, and always up for a good time, he gravitated towards Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring, both of whom would segue from street art to galleries and museums. Scharf also became a host and performer at Club 57, a church-turned-party palace for a multidisciplinary art scene that boasted future stars like actress Ann Magnuson, who testifies to his showmanship.
Beyond his canvases and video projects, Scharf would decorate household items, like telephones, with every embellishment he could find, from beads to shells and beyond. Intentionally or otherwise, his busy, vibrant work recalls Antoni Gaudí, Salvador Dali, and comic-strip surrealists, like Winsor McCay of Little Nemo fame.
As these colorful personalities started to make their mark, prices for their work increased and competition intensified. Notable art world speakers include curator Jeffrey Deitch, publisher Peter Brant, painters Robert Williams and Ed Ruscha, artist and musician Yoko Ono, and in archival footage, actor and art collector Dennis Hopper.
Scharf sometimes felt as if he was getting left behind as colleagues made more headway, but dark days lay ahead. Co-directors Max Basch and his daughter Malia Scharf neglect to mention Basquiat's death at the age of 27 in 1988, though Scharf talks about Haring's death at the age of 31 in 1990 from AIDS-related complications. He was at his friend's bedside at the end and tears well up at the remembrance. "It's like it was yesterday."
The title comes from a large mural the two created together. From Basch and Scharf's documentary, he doesn't appear to have had any vices, which seems unlikely for an active participant in such a temptation-filled milieu. After Haring's passing, Scharf would move to Florida before returning to Southern California where he appears to enjoy a happy life with his wife, Tereza, and their extended family.
When Worlds Collide joins documentaries about Jean-Michel Basquiat, like Tamra Davis's The Radiant Child and Sara Driver's Boom for Real, and about Keith Haring, like Ben Anthony's Street Art Boy. Though the co-directors depict a considerably longer life and career, their documentary ends up feeling shallow and surface-level by comparison. A strong optional selection.