Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 in Reading,
Pennsylvania, and was raised in nearby Kutztown, Pennsylvania.
He developed a love for drawing at a very early age, learning
basic cartooning skills from his father and from the popular
culture around him, such as Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney.
Upon
graduation from high school in 1976, Haring enrolled in the Ivy
School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, a commercial arts
school. He soon realized that he had little interest in becoming
a commercial graphic artist and, after two semesters, dropped
out. While in Pittsburgh, Haring continued to study and work on
his own and in 1978 had a solo exhibition of his work at the
Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center.
Later that same year, Haring moved to New York City and
enrolled in the School of Visual Arts (SVA). In New York, Haring
found a thriving alternative art community that was developing
outside the gallery and museum system, in the downtown streets,
the subways and spaces in clubs and former dance halls. Here he
became friends with fellow artists Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel
Basquiat, as well as the musicians, performance artists and
graffiti writers that comprised the burgeoning art community.
Haring was swept up in the energy and spirit of this scene and
began to organize and participate in exhibitions and
performances at Club 57 and other alternative venues.
In addition to being impressed by the innovation and energy
of his contemporaries, Haring was also inspired by the work of
Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin
and Robert Henri’s manifesto The Art Spirit, which
asserted the fundamental independence of the artist. With these
influences Haring was able to push his own youthful impulses
toward a singular kind of graphic expression based on the
primacy of the line. Also drawn to the public and participatory
nature of Christo’s work, in particular Running Fence,
and by Andy Warhol’s unique fusion of art and life, Haring was
determined to devote his career to creating a truly public art.
As a student at SVA, Haring experimented with performance,
video, installation and collage, while always maintaining a
strong commitment to drawing. In 1980, Haring found a highly
effective medium that allowed him to communicate with the wider
audience he desired, when he noticed the unused advertising
panels covered with matte black paper in a subway station. He
began to create drawings in white chalk upon these blank paper
panels throughout the subway system. Between 1980 and 1985,
Haring produced hundreds of these public drawings in rapid
rhythmic lines, sometimes creating as many as forty “subway
drawings” in one day. This seamless flow of images became
familiar to New York commuters, who often would stop to engage
the artist when they encountered him at work. The subway became,
as Haring said, a “laboratory” for working out his ideas and
experimenting with his simple lines.
Between 1980 and 1989, Haring achieved international
recognition and participated in numerous group and solo
exhibitions. His first solo exhibition in New York.was held at
the Westbeth Painters Space in 1981. In 1982, he made his Soho
gallery debut with an immensely popular and highly acclaimed
one-man exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. During this
period, he also participated in renowned international survey
exhibitions such as Documenta 7 in Kassel; the São Paulo
Biennial; and the Whitney Biennial. Haring completed numerous
public projects in the first half of the 80’s as well, ranging
from an animation for the Spectacolor billboard in
Times Square, designing sets and backdrops for theaters and
clubs, developing watch designs for Swatch and an advertising
campaign for Absolut vodka; and creating murals worldwide.
In April 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop, a retail store in
Soho selling T-shirts, toys, posters, buttons and magnets
bearing his images. Haring considered the shop to be an
extension of his work and painted the entire interior of the
store in an abstract black on white mural, creating a striking
and unique retail environment. The shop was intended to allow
people greater access to his work, which was now readily
available on products at a low cost. The shop received criticism
from many in the art world, however Haring remained committed to
his desire to make his artwork available to as wide an audience
as possible, and received strong support for his project from
friends, fans and mentors including Andy Warhol.
Throughout his career, Haring devoted much of his time to
public works, which often carried social messages. He produced
more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989, in dozens of
cities around the world, many of which were created for
charities, hospitals, children’s day care centers and
orphanages. The now famous Crack is Wack mural of 1986
has become a landmark along New York’s FDR Drive. Other projects
include; a mural created for the 100th anniversary of the Statue
of Liberty in 1986, on which Haring worked with 900 children; a
mural on the exterior of Necker Children’s Hospital in Paris,
France in 1987; and a mural painted on the western side of the
Berlin Wall three years before its fall. Haring also held
drawing workshops for children in schools and museums in New
York, Amsterdam, London, Tokyo and Bordeaux, and produced
imagery for many literacy programs and other public service
campaigns.
Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988. In 1989, he
established the Keith Haring Foundation, its mandate being to
provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children’s
programs, and to expand the audience for Haring’s work through
exhibitions, publications and the licensing of his images.
Haring enlisted his imagery during the last years of his life to
speak about his own illness and generate activism and awareness
about AIDS.
During a brief but intense career that spanned the 1980s,
Haring’s work was featured in over 100 solo and group
exhibitions. In 1986 alone, he was the subject of more than 40
newspaper and magazine articles. He was highly sought after to
participate in collaborative projects ,and worked with artists
and performers as diverse as Madonna, Grace Jones, Bill T.
Jones, William Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono
and Andy Warhol. By expressing universal concepts of birth,
death, love, sex and war, using a primacy of line and directness
of message, Haring was able to attract a wide audience and
assure the accessibility and staying power of his imagery, which
has become a universally recognized visual language of the 20th
century.
Keith Haring died of AIDS related complications at the age of
31 on February 16, 1990. A memorial service was held on May 4,
1990 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City,
with over 1,000 people in attendance.
Since his death, Haring has been the subject of several
international retrospectives. The work of Keith Haring can be
seen today in the exhibitions and collections of major museums
around the world.
Related:
Keith Haring - In His Own Words
Source: haring.com |