It was the winter of 1997. Toronto. Some big and atrocious-looking gallery on the edge of pig-windowed Chinatown. That’s where we first got to see the brilliance of Keith Haring up close. Well, “up close” isn’t all that necessary when the piece is thirty goddamn feet tall, but it was really there. In all it’s simplistic glory. Thoughtful. Angry. People with dog-heads and politics. You could almost touch it with your tongue it was......

It looks like the Umlauf Sculpture Garden and Museum is branching out into a new era of art. This Friday, it will be opening its first contemporary exhibit, an overview of the work of Austin sculptor Hank Waddell. What's next, a Keith Haring retrospective in the Elizabeth Ney museum? A rave at the French Legation? These all sound like pretty good ideas, as a matter of fact. Supposedly Waddell is a colorful Austin character......