Keith Haring Keith Haring is a famous street artist and sculptor of the 20th century, was involved in charity and social activities, and became a legend of American pop art during his lifetime. His work is an invitation to discuss current socially significant issues, an attempt to influence reality through paintings, posters, sculptures and murals. Keith Haring worked in his own style, not adhering to any of the known styles, and his works are reminiscent of the drawings of the ancient Incas and Mayans.

Biography of Keith Haring

The Haring family regularly attended meetings of the United Church of God, and Keith himself took an active part in the Jesus movement. But the desire for a free life overcame religious feelings and, as a teenager, he distanced himself from the church, joined the hippies and hitchhiked around the country. The guy earned his living by selling T-shirts with the logos of anti-Nixon and his favorite rock band, the Grateful Dead. He made the drawings himself.

Keith Haring adopted his love of drawing from his father. He was an engineer, but devoted his free time to his favorite hobby – caricature and comics. Father and son spent long hours together, doing interesting creative work. Keith Haring was also fond of the work of the animator Dr. Seuss and the cartoonist Charles Monroe Schulz.

He tried to get an academic education as a designer and entered the Pittsburgh School of Art, but quickly lost interest in his studies and studied there for only two semesters. He concentrated on self-development, and, it should be noted, quite successfully – already at the age of 19, Keith Haring debuted with a solo exhibition at the local Arts Center. And he realized that Pittsburgh had become too small for him.

The aspiring artist moved to New York and began studying painting, video art and performance at the School of Visual Arts. Having plunged into the art life, he became friends with Jean-Michel Basquiat, Madonna Louise Ciccone and Kenny Scharf. In 1982, he had a major solo exhibition, which attracted the attention of Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Roy Lichtenstein.

Keith Haring attracted public attention to his work after he left his studio and went out onto the street. In the early 80s, he began drawing on subway billboards with colored chalk. Gradually, he moved on to other, more visible sites, and, creating graffiti in the city center, became one of the most popular representatives of street art. Keith Haring makes provocative collages and posters, creates sculptures for children’s playgrounds, and is invited to clubs and pediatric departments of New York hospitals to decorate the walls in their premises.

Each new work by Keith Haring is filled with meaning – he draws on socio-political topics, touching on AIDS, drugs, racism, homophobia and environmental pollution. The street artist is especially interested in working with children from disadvantaged families. For example, during the celebration of the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, the artist invited a thousand children to create a large-format project called Citykids Speak on Liberty.

In a short time, Keith Haring becomes one of the most successful and popular artists in the world. He is friends with celebrities, travels often, and works a lot. Between 1982 and 1989, the artist created about 50 works of art in different countries. In 1986, he founded the Pop Shop art shop, where he sold badges, T-shirts, watches, and posters with his own drawings. Prices for the artist’s work soared several times.

Keith collaborates with brands of drinks and cigarettes, takes part in charity projects, and organizes exhibitions in the USA and Europe. In 1988, he learned that he had contracted AIDS and took up charity work with renewed enthusiasm, raising current issues of contraception, caring attitude to health and nature. In 1989, the Keith Haring Charitable Foundation was founded, which still deals with the problems of HIV and children from disadvantaged families. On February 16, 1990, the street art genius died from complications caused by HIV infection.