Hubbry Logo
Keith HaringKeith HaringMain
Open search
Keith Haring
Community hub
Keith Haring
logo
8 pages, 0 posts
0 subscribers
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Keith Haring
Keith Haring
Keith Haring
View on Wikipedia
from Wikipedia

Keith Allen Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s.[1] His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language".[2] Much of his work includes sexual allusions that turned into social activism by using the images to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness.[3] In addition to solo gallery exhibitions, he participated in renowned national and international group shows such as documenta in Kassel, the Whitney Biennial in New York, the São Paulo Biennial, and the Venice Biennale. The Whitney Museum held a retrospective of his art in 1997.

Key Information

Haring's popularity grew from his spontaneous drawings in New York City subways: chalk outlines of figures, dogs, and other stylized images on blank black advertising spaces.[4] After gaining public recognition, he created colorful larger scale murals, many commissioned.[4] He produced more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989, many of them created voluntarily for hospitals, day care centers and schools. In 1986, he opened the Pop Shop as an extension of his work. His later work often conveyed political and societal themes—anti-crack, anti-apartheid, safe sex, homosexuality and AIDS—through his own iconography.[5]

Haring died of AIDS-related complications on February 16, 1990.[6] In 2014, he was one of the inaugural honorees in the Rainbow Honor Walk in San Francisco, a walk of fame noting LGBTQ+ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields". In 2019, he was one of the inaugural 50 American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument in New York City's Stonewall Inn.

Biography

[edit]

Early life and education: 1958–1979

[edit]
Haring as a senior at Kutztown Area High School in 1976

Haring was born at Community General Hospital in Reading, Pennsylvania, on May 4, 1958.[7][8] He was raised in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, by his mother, Joan Haring, and father, Allen Haring, an engineer and amateur cartoonist. He had three younger sisters, Kay, Karen and Kristen.[9] He became interested in art at a very young age, spending time with his father producing creative drawings.[10] His early influences included Walt Disney cartoons, Dr. Seuss, Charles Schulz, and the Looney Tunes characters in The Bugs Bunny Show.[10]

Haring's family attended the United Church of Christ.[11] In his early teenage years, he was involved with the Jesus movement.[12] He later hitchhiked across the country, selling T-shirts he made featuring the Grateful Dead and anti-Nixon designs.[13] He graduated from Kutztown Area High School in 1976.[14] He studied commercial art from 1976 to 1978 at Pittsburgh's Ivy School of Professional Art, but eventually lost interest,[15] inspired to focus on his own art after reading The Art Spirit (1923) by Robert Henri.[10]

Haring had a maintenance job at the Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center and was able to explore the art of Jean Dubuffet, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Tobey. He was highly influenced around this time by a 1977 retrospective of Pierre Alechinsky's work and by a lecture that the sculptor Christo gave in 1978. From Alechinsky's work, he felt encouraged to create large images that featured writing and characters. From Christo, Haring was introduced to ways of incorporating the public into his art. His first significant exhibition was in Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center in 1978.[16][17]

Haring moved to the Lower East Side of New York in 1978 to study painting at the School of Visual Arts. He also worked as a busboy during this time at the nightclub Danceteria.[18] While attending school he studied semiotics with Bill Beckley and experimented with video and performance art. Haring was also highly influenced in his art by author William Burroughs.[10]

In 1978, Haring wrote in his journal: "I am becoming much more aware of movement. The importance of movement is intensified when a painting becomes a performance. The performance (the act of painting) becomes as important as the resulting painting."[19]

Early work: 1980–1981

[edit]

Haring first received public attention with his graffiti art in subways, where he created white chalk drawings on black, unused advertisement boards in the stations.[20] He considered the subways to be his "laboratory," a place where he could experiment and create his artwork and saw the black advertisement paper as a free space and "the perfect place to draw".[21] The Radiant Baby, a crawling infant with emitting rays of light, became his most recognized symbol. He used it as his tag to sign his work while a subway artist.[12] Symbols and images (such as barking dogs, flying saucers, and large hearts) became common in his work and iconography. As a result, Haring's works spread quickly and he became increasingly more recognizable.

The cut-up technique in the writings of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin inspired Haring's work with lettering and words.[13] In 1980, he created headlines from word juxtaposition and attached hundreds to lamp-posts around Manhattan. These included phrases like "Reagan Slain by Hero Cop" and "Pope Killed for Freed Hostage".[22] That same year, as part of his participating in The Times Square Show with one of his earliest public projects, Haring altered a banner advertisement above a subway entrance in Times Square that showed a female embracing a male's legs, blacking-out the first letter so that it essentially read "hardón" instead of "Chardón," a French clothing brand.[23] He later used other forms of commercial material to spread his work and messages. This included mass-producing buttons and magnets to hand out and working on top of subway ads.

In 1980, Haring began organizing exhibitions at Club 57, which were filmed by his close friend, photographer Tseng Kwong Chi.[24] In February 1981, Haring had his first solo exhibition at Westbeth Painters Space in the West Village.[25][26] In November 1981, Hal Bromm Gallery in Tribeca presented the artist's first solo exhibition at a commercial gallery.[27]

Breakthrough and rise to fame: 1982–1986

[edit]
Haring painting the backdrop for the Palladium nightclub, 1985

In January 1982, Haring was the first of twelve artists organized by Public Art Fund to display work on the computer-animated Spectacolor billboard in Times Square.[28] That summer, Haring created his first major outdoor mural on the Houston Bowery Wall on the Lower East Side.[29] In his paintings, he often used lines to show energy and movement.[30] Haring would often work quickly, trying to create as much work as possible—sometimes completing as many as 40 paintings in a day.[19] One of his works, Untitled (1982), depicts two figures with a radiant heart-love motif, which critics have interpreted as a bold nod to homosexual love and a significant cultural statement.[30]

In 1982, Haring participated in documenta 7 in Kassel, where his works were exhibited alongside Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.[31] In October 1982, he had an exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery with his collaborator graffiti artist Angel "LA II" Ortiz.[32] That year, he was in several group exhibitions including Fast at the Alexander Milliken Gallery in New York.[33] Haring designed the poster for the 1983 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.[34]

In February 1983, Haring had a solo exhibition at the Fun Gallery in the East Village, Manhattan.[35] That year, Haring participated in the São Paulo Biennale in Brazil and the Whitney Biennial in New York.[36][37] In April 1983, Haring was commissioned to paint a mural, Construction Fence, at the construction site of the Haggerty Museum of Art in Milwaukee.[38] Later that year, Haring took part in the exhibition Urban Pulses: the Artist and the City in Pittsburgh by spray painting a room at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts and creating an outdoor mural at PPG Place.[39] In October 1983, Elio Fiorucci invited Haring to Milan to paint the walls of his Fiorucci store.[40] While Haring was in London for the opening of his exhibition at the Robert Fraser Gallery in October 1983, he met and began collaborating with choreographer Bill T. Jones. Haring used Jones' body as the canvas to paint from head to toe.[41]

Haring and Angel "LA II" Ortiz produced a T-shirt design for friends Willi Smith and Laurie Mallet's clothing label WilliWear Productions in 1984.[42] After Haring was profiled in Paper magazine, fashion designer Vivienne Westwood reached out to editor-in-chief Kim Hastreiter to facilitate a meeting with Haring. Haring presented Westwood with two large sheets of drawings and she turned them into textiles for her Autumn/Winter 1983–84 Witches collection.[43][44] Haring's friend Madonna wore a skirt from the collection, most notably in the music video her 1984 single "Borderline."[45]

As Haring rose to stardom he continued to draw in the subways, contrasting the rocketing prices for his work.[46] Haring enjoyed giving his work away for free, often handing out free buttons and posters of his work.[46] In 1984, he released a book titled Art in Transit, which featured photography by Tseng Kwong Chi and an introduction by Henry Geldzahler.[47] Haring's swift rise to international celebrity status was covered by the media. His art covered the February 1984 issue of Vanity Fair, and he was featured in the October 1984 issue of Newsweek.[48][49] In July 1984, he painted singer Grace Jones for the first time for Interview magazine.[50]

Haring painting a mural at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1986

In 1984, the New York City Department of Sanitation asked Haring to design a logo for their anti-litter campaign.[51] Haring participated in the Venice Biennale.[36] He was invited to create temporary murals at the National Gallery of Victoria and the Art Gallery of New South Wales.[52] During his visit to Australia, he painted the permanent Keith Haring Mural at Collingwood Technical College in Melbourne.[53] That year, Haring also painted murals at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis and in Serra Grande, located in Bahia, Brazil.[54][55] Later that year, he designed the stage set for the production of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane's Secret Pastures at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.[56]

In 1985, Swatch introduced a line of watches designed by Haring.[57] Haring was commissioned by the United Nations to create a first day cover of the United Nations stamp and an accompanying limited edition lithograph to commemorate 1985 as International Youth Year.[58] He designed MTV set decorations and painted murals for various art institutions and nightclubs, such as the Palladium in Manhattan.[12] In March 1985, Haring painted the walls of the Grande Halle de la Villette for the Biennale de Paris.[59]

In July 1985, Haring made a painting for the Live Aid concert at J.F.K. Stadium in Philadelphia.[60] Additionally, he painted a car owned by art dealer Max Protetch to be auctioned, with proceeds donated to African famine relief.[61] Haring continued to be politically active as well by designing Free South Africa posters in 1985,[62] and creating a poster for the 1986 Great Peace March for Global Nuclear Disarmament.[63]

In December 1985, Haring painted The Ten Commandments to commemorate his first solo museum show at the CAPC musée d'art contemporain in Bordeaux.[64] Haring had a solo museum exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and he painted a mural on the façade of the museum's storage building in March 1986.[65][66]

In June 1986, Haring created a 90-foot (27-metre) banner, CityKids Speak on Liberty, in conjunction with The CityKids Foundation to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the Statue of Liberty's arrival in the United States.[67] Later that month, he created his Crack Is Wack mural in East Harlem, visible from New York's FDR Drive.[15] It was originally considered as vandalism by the New York Police Department and Haring was arrested. But after local media outlets picked up the story, Haring was released on a lesser charge. While in jail, Haring's original work was vandalized to read "Crack Is It", then was overpainted by the Parks Department.[68] This mural is an example of Haring's use of consciousness raising rather than consumerism, "Crack is Wack" rather than "Coke is it."[69] He painted an updated version of the mural on the same wall in October 1986.[70]

Crack Is Wack (1986) mural on FDR Drive in East Harlem, New York

In September 1986, Haring's permanent murals were unveiled at Woodhull Hospital in Brooklyn.[71][72]

He created a mural on the Berlin Wall for the Checkpoint Charlie Museum on October 23, 1986.[73] The mural was 300 meters (980 ft) long and depicted red and black interlocking human figures against a yellow background. The colors were a representation of the German flag and symbolized the hope of unity between East and West Germany.[74]

Haring painted a skirt for Grace Jones to wear in her music video "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)" (1986) and he was the assistant director for the video.[75][76] He also body painted Jones for live performances at the Paradise Garage,[77] and for her role of Katrina the Queen of The Vampires in the 1986 film Vamp.[78] Haring collaborated with David Spada, a jewelry designer, to design the sculptural adornments for Jones.[79]

Haring collaborated with Warhol to design the poster for the 1986 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.[80] The poster was also used for the 1986 Montreux-Detroit Jazz Festival in Detroit.[80] He also designed a poster for Absolut Vodka, which was unveiled at the Whitney Museum in New York in October 1986.[81] In December 1986, while in Phoenix to meet with potential backers for a Haring-designed public playground, he led a drawing workshop at the Phoenix Art Museum, gave a lecture, and painted a mural with students downtown.[82][83]

Haring illustrated vinyl covers for various artists such as David Bowie's "Without You" (1983), N.Y.C. Peech Boys' Life Is Something Special (1983), Malcolm McLaren's "Duck For The Oyster" (1983), and Sylvester's "Someone Like You" (1986).[84]

Pop Shop

[edit]
Main article: Pop Shop

In April 1986, Pop Shop opened in Soho, selling shirts, posters, and other items showcasing Haring's work.[85] This made Haring's work readily accessible to purchase at reasonable prices.[6] Having achieved what he wanted, which was "getting the work out to the public at large," Haring completely stopped drawing in the subways.[86] He also stopped because people were taking the subway drawings and selling them.[86]

Some criticized Haring for commercializing his work.[87][5] Asked about this, Haring said, "I could earn more money if I just painted a few things and jacked up the price. My shop is an extension of what I was doing in the subway stations, breaking down the barriers between high and low art."[6] The Pop Shop remained open after Haring's death until 2005, with profits benefiting the Keith Haring Foundation.[85]

The Pop Shop was not Haring's only effort to make his work widely accessible. Throughout his career, Haring made art in subways and on billboards.[6] His attempts to make his work relatable can also be seen in his figures' lack of discernable ages, races, or identities.[12] By the arrival of Pop Shop, his work had begun reflecting more socio-political themes, such as anti-Apartheid, AIDS awareness, and the crack cocaine epidemic.[5]

Final years and death: 1987–1990

[edit]

Haring was openly gay and used his work to advocate for safe sex.[88] He was diagnosed with HIV in 1987 and AIDS in the autumn of 1988.[89][90] He used his imagery during the last years of his life to speak about his illness and to generate activism and awareness about AIDS.[5]

A simple statue of a red dog
Barking dog sculpture by Haring in Dortmund, Germany

In 1987, Haring had exhibitions in Helsinki, Paris, and elsewhere. During his stay in Paris for the 10th anniversary exhibition of American artists at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Haring and his boyfriend Juan Rivera painted the Tower mural on an 88-foot-high (27 m) exterior stairwell at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital.[91][92] While in Belgium for his exhibition at Gallery 121, Haring painted a mural at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Antwerp.[93]

That same year, Haring was also invited by artist Roger Nellens to paint a mural at his Casino Knokke.[94] While working there, Haring stayed in Le Dragon, a monster-shaped guest house owned by Nellens which had been designed by artist Niki de Saint Phalle. With the consent of both the designer and the owner, Haring painted a fresco mural along an interior balcony and stairway.[95][96]

Haring designed a carousel for André Heller's Luna Luna, an ephemeral amusement park in Hamburg from June to August 1987 with rides designed by renowned contemporary artists.[97][98] In August 1987, Haring painted a large mural at the Carmine Street Recreation Center's outdoor pool in the West Village.[99][100] In September 1987, he painted a temporary mural, Detroit Notes, at the Cranbrook Art Museum in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. The work reveals a darker phase in Haring's style, which Cranbrook Art Museum Director Andrew Blauvelt speculates foreshadowed the confirmation of his AIDS diagnosis.[101]

Haring designed the cover for the 1987 benefit album A Very Special Christmas and the Run-DMC single "Christmas In Hollis"; proceeds went to the Special Olympics.[58][84] The image for the A Very Special Christmas compilation album consists of a typical Haring figure holding a baby. Its "Jesus iconography" is considered unusual in modern rock holiday albums.[102]

Also in 1987, Haring painted a mural in the Philadelphia neighborhood of Point Breeze titled 'We the Youth' to commemorate the bicentennial of the United States Constitution. Originally intended as a placeholder, a new rowhouse was never built and the lot became a park. The mural underwent a major restoration in 2013 and is Haring's longest standing public mural at its original location.[103]

In 1988, Haring joined a select group of artists whose work has appeared on the label of Chateau Mouton Rothschild wine.[104] In January 1988, he traveled to Japan to open Pop Shop Tokyo; it closed in the summer of 1988.[105] Haring collaborated with his friend Stephen Sprouse on designing prints for his Fall 1988 collection.[106] Haring also painted Sprouse's Honda CBR1000F.[107][44]

In April 1988, Haring created a mural on the South Lawn for the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, which he donated to Children's National Hospital in Washington, D.C.[108] Late in the summer, Haring traveled to Düsseldorf for a show of his paintings and sculptures at the Hans Mayer Gallery.[109] In December 1988, Haring's exhibition opened at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery, which he stated was his most important show to date. He felt he had something to prove because of his health condition and the deaths of his friends Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.[110]

Todos Juntos Podemos Parar el SIDA (1989) in Barcelona, Spain

In February 1989, Haring painted the Todos Juntos Podemos Parar el SIDA mural in the Barrio Chino neighborhood of Barcelona to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic.[111] In May 1989, at the invitation of a teacher named Irving Zucker, Haring visited Chicago to paint a 480-foot mural in Grant Park along with nearly 500 students.[112] Three other Haring murals materialized in Chicago around the same time: two at Rush University Medical Center, the other at Wells Community Academy High School.[113] The latter was completed days before Haring's arrival in Chicago, as a sort of welcome.[114] According to Zucker, Haring sent the school a design template for the mural, which was executed by a fellow teacher, Tony Abboreno, an abstract artist, and Wells High School art students, but Haring gave it his final approval and signed it himself.[114]

For The Center Show, an exhibition celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, Haring was invited by the Lesbian and Gay Community Services Center in New York to create a site-specific work.[115] He chose the second-floor men's bathroom to paint his Once Upon a Time... mural in May 1989.[116] In June 1989, Haring painted his Tuttomondo mural on the rear wall of the convent of the Sant'Antonio Abate church in Pisa.[117] Haring criticized the avoidance of social issues such as AIDS through a piece called Rebel with Many Causes (1989) that revolves around the theme of "hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil".[118] During the last week of November 1989, Haring painted a mural at the ArtCenter College of Design in Pasadena for "A Day Without Art". The mural was commemorated on December 1, the second annual AIDS Awareness Day. He commemorated the mural on December 1, World AIDS Day, and told the Los Angeles Times: "My life is my art, it's intertwined. When AIDS became a reality in terms of my life, it started becoming a subject in my paintings. The more it affected my life the more it affected my work."[5] From Pasadena, Haring flew to Atlanta for the opening of his dual show with photographer Herb Ritts at the Fay Gold Gallery on December 2.[119]

In 1990, Haring painted a BMW Z1 at the Hans Mayer Gallery in Düsseldorf.[120][121] He traveled to Paris for what would be his last exhibition, Keith Haring 1983, at Galerie 1900–2000/La Galerie de Poche in January 1990.[122][123]

On February 16, 1990, Haring died of AIDS-related complications at his LaGuardia Place apartment in Greenwich Village.[124][6] He was cremated and his ashes were scattered in a field near Bowers, Pennsylvania, just south of his hometown of Kutztown.[125] Three months after his death, Haring posthumously appeared in Rosa von Praunheim's documentary film Silence = Death (1990) about gay artists in New York City fighting for the rights of people with AIDS. It was released on May 4, which would have been his 32nd birthday.[126]

Personal life

[edit]

Relationships

[edit]

Haring had many casual male lovers, but he had two significant romantic relationships. Haring told his biographer John Gruen: "It's probably one of my major faults that I pursue physical love with such obsession. It was always the first and foremost aspect that I took care of. I always felt that intellectual stimulation and companionship could be supplied by other people."[127]

Haring dated deejay Juan Dubose from 1981 to 1986.[36] They met at the New St. Marks Baths in the East Village.[128] Dubose moved in with Haring and his roommate Samantha McEwen in an apartment on Broome Street.[129] Dubose would play at Haring's art openings and parties, and Haring worked to mixtapes made by him.[36] By 1985, Haring began to travel more and lost interest in Dubose.[130] "I was certainly unfaithful to Juan. … The fact is, I was bored with Juan's inability to do anything with himself. And I didn't like Juan's involvement with drugs, which was partly spurred by my rejection of him," he said.[130] After Dubose died from AIDS in 1989, Haring helped his family arrange his funeral.[131]

Haring dated Juan Rivera from 1986 to 1989.[132] After leaving Dubose, Haring wanted to be a bachelor until he met Rivera at Paradise Garage in New York City.[130] Rivera worked in construction as a carpenter and he was a limousine driver.[127] Rivera moved into Haring's studio until he finally broke up with Dubose and then they moved into a new apartment together.[36] Rivera was Haring's travel companion and he assisted him with the murals Crack is Wack (1986) in New York and Tower (1987) in Paris.[133][36] When Haring told Rivera he had AIDS, he got tested and found out he had AIDS-related complex (ARC).[36] Haring began to grow irritable and distanced himself from Rivera, spending more time with his friend Gil Vazquez.[36][134] After learning that Haring had brought Vazquez to Europe instead of him, Rivera surprised them at the airport upon their return and broke up with Haring.[36] Shortly before Haring died in 1990, he called Rivera and spent three days with him.[36][135] Rivera later developed AIDS and died from ALS in 2011.[36][136] The book Queer Latino Testimonio, Keith Haring and Juanito Xtravaganza: Hard Tails (2007) by Arnaldo Cruz-Malavé details their relationship.[137][132]

Friendships

[edit]

Soon after moving to New York to study at the School of Visual Arts, he became friends with classmates Kenny Scharf (his one-time roommate),[138] Samantha McEwen, and John Sex.[139] Eventually, he befriended Jean-Michel Basquiat, who would write his SAMO graffiti around the campus.[140] When Basquiat died in 1988, Haring wrote his obituary for Vogue magazine, and he paid homage to him with the painting A Pile of Crowns for Jean-Michel Basquiat (1988).[141][142]

In 1979, Haring met photographer Tseng Kwong Chi in the East Village. They became friends and he documented much of Haring's career.[143] In 1980, Haring met and began collaborating with graffiti artist Angel "LA II" Ortiz.[29] Haring recounted: "We just immediately hit it off. It's as if we'd known each other all our lives. He's like my little brother."[29] Ortiz's artistry formed an important part of Haring's work that had gone unacknowledged by the art establishment.[144][145] Following Haring's death, Ortiz stopped receiving credit and payment for his part in Haring's work. According to Montez, author of the book Keith Haring's Line: Race and the Performance of Desire, the Keith Haring Foundation and the art world have since made strides to rectify Ortiz's erasure.[146]

By the early 1980s, Haring had established friendships with fellow emerging artists Fab 5 Freddy and Futura 2000, and singer Madonna.[13][147] In 1982, Haring befriended pop artist Andy Warhol, who became his mentor and the inspiration for his 1986 Andy Mouse series.[148] Warhol also created a portrait of Haring and his boyfriend Juan Dubose in 1983.[149] Through Warhol, Haring became friends with Grace Jones, Francesco Clemente, and Yoko Ono.[13] He also formed friendships with George Condo, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, and Claude Picasso.[150]

Haring met accessories designer Bobby Breslau in the early 1980s. He looked to Breslau for guidance and called him his "Jewish mother".[151] Breslau introduced Haring to his friend Larry Levan, resident DJ at the Paradise Garage.[151] Breslau inspired Haring to work with leather hides and he was the manager of the Pop Shop until his death in 1987.[152]

Art dealer Yves Arman was Haring's close friend, and Haring was the godfather of his daughter. Haring said Arman was "probably the best supporter I had in the art world."[13] In 1989, Arman was killed in a car accident on his way to see Haring in Spain.[13]

In 1988, Gil Vazquez was invited by a friend to visit Haring's Broadway studio.[153] Haring and Vazquez became close friends and spent a great deal of time together. Haring described their platonic relationship as "intellectual companionship."[154] I really enjoy being his friend and sharing and caring like a big brother more than a lover," he said.[154] Before his death, Haring set up a foundation bearing his name. He appointed his assistant and studio manager Julia Gruen to be the executive director; she began working for him in 1984.[155] Vazquez is the board president of the foundation, which is based at Haring's Broadway studio.[156]

Legacy

[edit]
Tuttomondo (1989) mural at the church of Sant'Antonio Abate in Pisa, Italy

The Keith Haring Foundation

[edit]

In 1989, Haring established the Keith Haring Foundation to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children's programs. The foundation's stated goal is to keep his wishes and expand his legacy by providing grants and funding to non-profit organizations that educate disadvantaged youths and inform the public about HIV and AIDS. It also shares his work and contains information about his life.[157] The foundation also supports arts and educational institutions by funding exhibitions, educational programs, and publications.[157] In 2010, the foundation partnered with the AIDS Service Center NYC to open the Keith Haring ASC Harlem Center to provide HIV peer education and access to care services in Harlem.[158]

Accolades and tributes

[edit]

As a celebration of his life, Madonna declared that the final American date of her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour would be a benefit concert for Haring's memory. More than $300,000 was made from ticket sales, which was donated to the Foundation for AIDS Research.[159] The act was documented in the 1991 film Madonna: Truth or Dare.[160]

Haring's work was featured in several of Red Hot Organization's efforts to raise money for AIDS and AIDS awareness, specifically its first two albums, Red Hot + Blue (1990) and Red Hot + Dance (1992), the latter of which used Haring's work on its cover. His art remains on display worldwide.[6]

In 1991, Haring was commemorated on the AIDS Memorial Quilt with his famous baby icon on a fabric panel. The baby was embroidered by Haring's aunt, Jeannette Ebling, and Haring's mother, Joan Haring, did much of the sewing.[161]

Tim Finn wrote the song "Hit The Ground Running", on his album Before & After (1993), in memory of Haring.[162]

In 2006, Haring was named by Equality Forum as one of their 31 Icons of LGBT History Month.[163]

In 2008, Haring had a balloon in tribute to him at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.[164] According to artnet.com, Haring had always dreamed of creating a balloon for the parade. "Eighteen years on from his death, this wish came true on what would have been his 50th birthday. It later fronted the main entrance to Central Park's AIDS Walk in 2014. The balloon is also remembered for crashing into NBC's onsite booth and taking its broadcast temporarily off air."[165] On May 4, 2012, on what would have been Haring's 54th birthday, Google honored him in a Google Doodle.[166]

Place Keith Haring in Paris

In 2014, Haring was one of the inaugural honorees in the Rainbow Honor Walk. The Rainbow Honor Walk is a walk of fame in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood noting LGBTQ people who have "made significant contributions in their fields."[167][168][169]

In 2018, a public square in the 13th arrondissement of Paris was named Place Keith Haring in his memory.[170]

In June 2019, Haring was one of the inaugural fifty American "pioneers, trailblazers, and heroes" inducted on the National LGBTQ Wall of Honor within the Stonewall National Monument in New York City's Stonewall Inn.[171][172] Stonewall is the first US national monument dedicated to LGBTQ rights and history,[173] and the wall's unveiling was timed to take place during the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots.[174]

In 2021, Polaroid honored Haring with a Polaroid Now camera and Polaroid i-Type instant film decorated with his signature motifs.[175][176]

In 2024, a historical marker was dedicated to Haring in his hometown of Kutztown, Pennsylvania.[177]

[edit]
The Boxers (1987) sculpture in Berlin, Germany

Haring's signature style is frequently seen in various fashion collections. His estate has collaborated with brands such as Adidas, Lacoste, UNIQLO, Supreme, Reebok, Tenga, and Coach.[178][179]

Haring is the subject of a composition, Haring at the Exhibition, written and performed by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero in collaboration with DJ Nicola Guiducci. The work combines excerpts from popular chart music of the 1980s with samples of classical music compositions by Lorenzo Ferrero and synthesized sounds. It was featured at "The Keith Haring Show", an exhibition which took place in 2005 at the Triennale di Milano.[180]

In 2008, filmmaker Christina Clausen released the documentary The Universe of Keith Haring. In the film, Haring's legacy is "resurrected through colorful archival footage and remembered by friends and admirers such as artists Kenny Scharf and Yoko Ono, gallery owners Jeffrey Deitch and Tony Shafrazi, and choreographer Bill T. Jones".[181]

Madonna used Haring's art as animated backdrops for her 2008/2009 Sticky and Sweet Tour. The animation featured his trademark blocky figures dancing in beat to an updated remix of "Into the Groove".[182]

Keith Haring: Double Retrospect is a monster-sized jigsaw puzzle by Ravensburger measuring in at 17 by 6 feet (5.2 by 1.8 m) with 32,256 pieces, breaking Guinness Book of World Records for the largest puzzle ever made in 2011. The puzzle uses 32 pieces of his work and weighs 42 pounds (19 kg).[183]

In 2017, his sister Kay Haring wrote a children's book, Keith Haring: The Boy Who Just Kept Drawing, which ranked among the top ten sellers every week for over a year in the Amazon category of Children's Art History.[184]

In July 2020, BBC Two broadcast the documentary Keith Haring: Street Art Boy, which is built from a series of interviews between Haring and art critic John Gruen in 1989.[185][186] The documentary, which was directed by Ben Anthony, aired in December 2020 on PBS as part of the American Masters series.[187][188]

In May 2025, Lego released Keith Haring – Dancing Figures, as part of their Lego Art line. The building set, which is designed for adults, features 1,773 pieces that "brilliantly captures the bold lines, vibrant colours and distinctive sense of movement and energy," of Haring's dancing figures.[189][190]

In August 2025, it was reported that filmmaker Andrew Haigh is developing a TV series based on Brad Gooch's 2024 biography Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring.[191]

Influences

[edit]

Haring's work demonstrates political and personal influences. References to his sexual orientation are apparent throughout his work, and his journals confirm its impact on his work.[154] There are symbolic allusions to the AIDS epidemic in some of his later pieces, such as Untitled (cat. no. 27), Silence=Death and his sketch Weeping Woman. In some of his works—including Untitled (cat. no. 27),—the symbolism is subtle, but he also produced some blatantly activist works. Silence=Death, which mirrors the ACT UP poster and uses its motto, is almost universally agreed upon as a work of HIV/AIDS activism.[192]

Haring was influenced by William Burroughs' work with Brion Gysin and their book The Third Mind.[13] He was also influenced by fellow artists, including Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, George Condo, and Angel "LA II" Ortiz.[29][13] In some of his art he drew connections between the end of the world and the AIDS virus. In a piece that he made with William Burroughs, he depicts the virus as demon-like creatures, the number 666, and a mushroom cloud.[12]

Haring's proximity to the nuclear meltdown at Three Mile Island had a large impact on him. His fear of nuclear disaster started to appear in his art. An example of this is a black and white striped flag that he said symbolized the danger of a nuclear apocalypse.[12]

Haring was deeply influenced by the Jesus Movement as a youth, and it continued to play a role in his art for his entire career. The movement was an extremely evangelical, loosely organized, diverse group of Christians. They were known for their anti-materialism and anti-establishment beliefs, focus on the Last Judgment, and their compassionate treatment of the poor. As a young teenager, Haring became very involved in the movement. Religious symbols started to be incorporated into his drawings around that age as well as Jesus Movement sentiments. This includes anti-church establishment views that can be seen in some of his later work.[12] Though his time as a "Jesus Person" did not last beyond his teenage years, religious images, symbols, and references continued to appear in his art. In an interview near the end of his life he commented, "[All] that stuff stuck in my head and even now there are lots of religious images in my work. Some people even think my work is by a religious fanatic or maniac."[12]

When Haring was drawing graffiti in the subway, he used a tag to sign his work. His tag, the Radiant Baby, depicts a baby with lines radiating from it, alluding to the Christ Child. He continued to make images depicting the Christ Child, including Nativity scenes in his characteristic style during his time as a subway artist.[12] His last pieces were two religious triptychs; both went to Episcopal cathedrals. In them he illustrates the Last Judgment, though who is being saved in the pieces is ambiguous.[12]

Exhibitions

[edit]

From 1982 to 1989, Haring was featured in more than 100 solo and group exhibitions and produced more than 50 public artworks for charities, hospitals, day care centers, and orphanages.[193] He was represented by well-known galleries such as the Tony Shafrazi Gallery and the Leo Castelli Gallery.[194] Since his death, has been featured in over 150 exhibitions around the world.[195] He has also been the subject of several international retrospectives.

Haring had his first solo exhibition at Westbeth Painters Space in February 1981.[25][26] That month he also participated in New York/New Wave exhibit at MoMA PS1.[196] Later that year he had a solo exhibition in the Hal Bromm Gallery,[197] followed by his breakthrough exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1982.[139] That same year, he took part in documenta 7 in Kassel as well as Public Art Fund's Messages to the Public series in which he created work for a Spectacolor billboard in Times Square.[12] In 1983, Haring contributed work to the Whitney Biennial and the São Paulo Biennial. He also had solo exhibitions at the Fun Gallery, Galerie Watari in Tokyo, and his second show the Tony Shafrazi Gallery.[198][199][35]

In 1984, Haring participated in the group shaddow Arte di Frontiera: New York Graffiti in Italy.[200] He participated in the Venice Biennale in 1984 and 1986.[201][36] In 1985, Haring took part in the Paris Biennial and he had his first solo museum exhibition at the CAPC musée d'art contemporain in Bordeaux.[202][3] In 1986, three of Haring's sculptures were placed at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza outside the United Nations headquarters.[203][99] Two of the works were displayed at Riverside Park from May 1988 to May 1989.[99] In 1991–92, Haring's Figure Balancing on Dog was displayed in Dante Park in Manhattan.[99]

In 1996, a retrospective at the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia was the first major exhibition of his work in Australia. His art was the subject of a 1997 retrospective at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, curated by Elisabeth Sussman.[204] The Public Art Fund, in collaboration with the Estate of Keith Haring, organized a multi-site installation of his outdoor sculptures at Central Park's Doris C. Freedman Plaza and along the Park Avenue Malls.[205] This public exhibition occurred simultaneously with the retrospective at the Whitney.[206] The sculptures later traveled to the West Coast in 1998. The San Francisco Arts Commission displayed 10 sculptures around San Francisco to coincide with Haring's retrospective at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.[207] The city of West Hollywood and Haring's estate also presented his sculptures on Santa Monica Boulevard.[208]

In 2007, Haring's painted aluminum sculpture Self-Portrait (1989) was displayed in the lobby of the Arsenal in Central Park, as part of the retrospective exhibition The Outdoor Gallery: 40 Years of Public Art in New York City Parks.[99]

In 2008, there was a retrospective exhibition at the MAC in Lyon, France. In February 2010, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Haring's death, the Tony Shafrazi Gallery showed an exhibition containing dozens of works from every stage of Haring's career.[209] In March 2012, a retrospective exhibit of his work, Keith Haring: 1978–1982, opened at the Brooklyn Museum in New York.[210] In April 2013, Keith Haring: The Political Line opened at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris and Le Cent Quatre. In November 2014, then at the De Young Museum in San Francisco.[211]

From December 2016 to June 2017, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles exhibited The Unconventional Canvases of Keith Haring, which featured five vehicles that Haring painted.[212] In 2019, Haring's work was exhibited at Gladstone Gallery in Belgium.[213] The first major UK exhibition of Haring's work, featuring more than 85 artworks, was at Tate Liverpool from June to November 2019.[214] From December 2019 to March 2020, the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne exhibited Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines.[215]

In February 2021, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver opened the exhibition Keith Haring: Grace House Mural, which displays 13 panels from a mural Haring painted at a Catholic youth center on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in either March 1983 or 1984.[216] The mural—which featured Haring's radiant baby, barking dog, and dancing man figures—spanned three floors and 85 feet. When Grace House was sold, its operator, the Church of the Ascension, went against the Keith Haring Foundation's wishes of securing a buyer who would maintain the work. Instead, the church had sections of the mural cut out and sold at auction in 2019 to an anonymous private collector for $3.86 million. The panels are on loan to the museum and will appear on exhibit until August 22, 2021.

In 2022, the exhibition Keith Haring: Grace House Mural was displayed at the Schunck Museum in Heerlen.[217] In 2023, The Broad presented Haring's first museum exhibition in Los Angeles, Keith Haring: Art is for Everyone.[218]

Art market

[edit]

A CBS Evening News report from October 1982 shows scenes from Haring's solo exhibit at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in SoHo. It was reported that over a quarter of a million dollars' worth of paintings were sold within the first few days of the show's opening.[219] Although he was an established artist by 1983, Shafrazi stated that Haring wanted to keep his prices low.[220] His prices ranged from $3,000 for a drawing to $15,000 for a large painting.[220] By 1984, his works were selling for up to $20,000 and he had an annual income of $250,000.[46][221]

Haring created the Pop Shop in 1986 in the SoHo district of Manhattan, selling T-shirts, toys, posters, and other objects that show his works—allowing his works to be accessible to a larger number of people.[87] Speaking about the Pop Shop in 1989, Haring said: "For the past five or six years, the rewards I've gotten are very disproportionate to what I deserve...I make a lot more money than what I should make, so it's a little bit of guilt, of wanting to give it back."[5]

Haring was represented until his death by art dealer Tony Shafrazi.[222] Since his death in 1990, his estate has been administered by the Keith Haring Foundation, which is represented by Gladstone Gallery.[223] In May 2017, Haring's painting Untitled (1982), which features his signature symbols—the radiant baby, barking dogs, angels and red Xs—sold for $6.5 million at Sotheby's in New York, becoming the most expensive Haring artwork sold at auction.[224] However, the winning bidder, Anatole Shagalov, failed to pay and Sotheby's resold it for $4.4 million in August 2017.[225]

In October 2020, the Keith Haring Foundation hired Sotheby's to hold an online auction of more than 140 works from Haring's collection.[226] Dear Keith surpassed its estimate of $1.4 million to achieve $4.6 million with a 100 percent sell-through rate by lot. All proceeds from the sale went to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center of New York.[226] In December 2021, Haring's 1982 painting Untitled (Acrobats) from the collection of Peter M. Brant and Stephanie Seymour, sold for $5.5 million at Sotheby's in New York.[227]

In 2022, the drawing of ''Radiant Baby'' that he had made on the wall of his childhood home in the early 1980s was removed by its owners (together with part of the wall paneling) and offered for sale.[228]

Collections

[edit]

Haring's work is in major private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Morgan Library and Museum, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Bass Museum in Miami; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Brant Foundation Art Study Center in Greenwich, Connecticut; the Carnegie Museum of Art and the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh; the Ludwig Museum in Cologne; and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam.[229] He also created a wide variety of public works, including the infirmary at Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, New York,[230] and the second floor men's room in the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in Manhattan, which was later transformed into an office and is known as the Keith Haring Room.[231][232] In January 2019, the exhibit "Keith Haring's New York" opened at New York Law School in the main building of its Tribeca campus.[233]

The Nakamura Keith Haring Collection, established in 2007 in Hokuto, Yamanashi, Japan, is an art museum exhibiting exclusively the artworks of Haring.[234][235]

Authentication issues

[edit]

There is no catalogue raisonné for Haring, but there is copious information about him on the estate's website and elsewhere, enabling prospective buyers or sellers to research exhibition history.[236] Whilst no formal catalogue raisonné exists for Haring's works "Keith Haring 1982–1990: Editions on Paper – the Complete Printed Works" by Klaus Littmann is widely considered to be the most authoritative guide on the subject of his printed editions.[237]

In 2012, the Keith Haring Foundation disbanded its authentication board to focus on its charitable activities.[238] That same year, it donated $1 million to support exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art.[222] In 2014, a group of nine art collectors sued the foundation, claiming that it has cost them at least $40 million by refusing to authenticate 80 purported Haring works.[239] In 2015, a judge ruled in favor of the foundation.[240]

See also

[edit]

References

[edit]

Bibliography

[edit]

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Revisions and contributorsEdit on WikipediaRead on Wikipedia

Keith Haring

View on Grokipedia
from Grokipedia
![Keith Haring in 1986](./assets/Keith_Haring_19861986
Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 – February 16, 1990) was an American artist and activist whose graffiti-derived works featured stark black outlines, vibrant colors, and rudimentary figures conveying social messages on topics including AIDS, drug abuse, and human rights. Born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in a nearby rural area, Haring displayed an early affinity for drawing influenced by cartoons and popular media before relocating to New York City in 1978 to attend the School of Visual Arts. There, Haring immersed himself in the vibrant East Village art scene, producing ephemeral chalk drawings on unused subway advertising panels starting in 1980, which rapidly drew public attention despite leading to multiple arrests for vandalism. His style, characterized by energetic lines, repetitive motifs such as the radiant baby and barking dog, and rhythmic patterns echoing hip-hop and , bridged underground with mainstream , earning collaborations with figures like and exhibitions in galleries. Haring's public murals, including the anti-drug "" in 1986 and a segment of the that year, amplified his reach, while his 1986 Pop Shop commercialized merchandise to democratize access to his imagery. Diagnosed with AIDS in 1987, Haring channeled his final years into advocacy, founding the Keith Haring Foundation in 1989 to support AIDS organizations and children's welfare, producing thousands of works before his death at age 31 from AIDS-related complications. His oeuvre legitimized within institutional contexts, influencing subsequent generations of artists and maintaining enduring visibility through global murals and foundation initiatives.

Early Life and Formative Influences

Childhood and Family Background

Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958, in , to parents Allen Haring, an engineer and amateur , and Joan Haring. He was the eldest of four siblings in a middle-class family that soon relocated to the nearby rural town of , where Haring spent his formative childhood years. From an early age, Haring displayed a strong inclination toward , largely influenced by his father's hobby of creating cartoons. Allen Haring taught his son the basics of cartooning, encouraging him to invent characters and produce his own comic books by the age of four. This paternal guidance, combined with exposure to television animations like those from and popular strips such as , fostered Haring's initial artistic experiments, which often involved simple, bold lines and whimsical figures. The family's supportive environment in Kutztown, a small community of under 5,000 residents at the time, provided a stable backdrop for Haring's self-taught skills, though details on his mother's direct influence remain sparse in available accounts. Haring later recalled filling sketchbooks with invented narratives, reflecting a childhood marked by creative autonomy rather than formal instruction.

Education and Initial Artistic Exposure

Keith Haring exhibited artistic talent from a young age, developing a passion for drawing influenced by his father, an engineering draftsman who created cartoons and taught him basic cartooning techniques. Additional inspirations came from popular media, including books, comics by , and animations, which shaped his early visual style characterized by bold lines and simplified forms. As the eldest of four sons in a working-class family in , Haring frequently sketched characters and scenes from these sources, fostering a self-taught foundation in illustrative . Following his graduation from Kutztown Area High School in 1976, Haring enrolled at the Ivy School of Professional Art in , a vocational institution focused on commercial and skills. He attended for two semesters, from 1976 to early 1978, but grew dissatisfied with the curriculum's emphasis on marketable applications over creative expression, prompting him to withdraw. Haring later reflected that the experience confirmed his aversion to commercial art careers, stating, "I quickly realized that I didn’t want to be a ." During his time in Pittsburgh, Haring expanded his exposure through informal involvement with local arts institutions. He audited classes at the and participated in activities at the Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (formerly the Arts & Crafts Center), where he began experimenting with printmaking techniques such as and . He also held a maintenance position at the center, which provided access to facilities and interactions with practicing artists, further igniting his interest in processes and experimentation. These experiences marked a transition from structured commercial training to a more exploratory approach, setting the stage for his relocation to in 1978.

Emergence in New York Art Scene

Arrival in New York and Street Art Beginnings

In 1978, Keith Haring relocated from , to to enroll at the (SVA) on a scholarship. At SVA, he immersed himself in a vibrant downtown art scene, studying performance, video, installation, and while prioritizing as his core medium. He connected with peers including and , frequented experimental venues like Club 57—where he performed poetry readings and curated exhibitions—and absorbed influences from writers, musicians, and the multicultural energy of the East Village. This environment, marked by spontaneous urban creativity, shifted Haring from studio-based work toward public expression, as he obsessively produced drawings, videos, and performances that engaged passersby. Haring's street art beginnings emerged in 1980, when he began drawing with white chalk on unused subway advertising panels covered in matte black paper, which provided an ideal temporary canvas. These panels, often blank due to expired ads, dotted and allowed Haring to create hundreds of works—sometimes up to 40 per day—depicting his emerging icons like radiant babies, barking dogs, and flying saucers in bold, linear forms. Over the next five years until 1985, he produced more than 5,000 such drawings across the system, viewing the subway as a "laboratory" for refining his graphic style through direct public interaction. Inspired by the calligraphic spontaneity of existing but distinguishing his ephemeral, non-spray-paint approach, Haring treated these acts as performances: he drew rapidly amid commuters, eliciting reactions from amusement to debate, which informed his commitment to accessible, communicative art. The subway drawings faced practical challenges, including frequent erasure or papering over by transit authorities, yet their impermanence amplified their impact, democratizing art beyond galleries and fostering Haring's ethos of immediacy and universality. This phase marked a pivotal evolution, bridging his SVA training with the raw dynamics of New York's streets, where public response—ranging from of drawings to media notice—validated the works' resonance with diverse audiences. By prioritizing chalk's simplicity and the subway's scale, Haring eschewed traditional tools, emphasizing instead symbolic content drawn from personal observation and cultural observation, setting the foundation for his broader street interventions.

Subway Drawings and Graffiti Techniques

In 1980, Keith Haring identified unused advertising panels in , which were covered with black matte paper following the removal of posters, as an opportunity for unsanctioned . He began drawing on these surfaces using , creating bold, outline-based figures that contrasted sharply against the dark background. This medium allowed for rapid execution, typically in 10 to 20 minutes per piece, enabling Haring to produce work spontaneously during commutes or station waits without requiring elaborate tools or setups. Haring's techniques emphasized continuous, energetic line work with minimal shading, drawing from his prior experiments in and rapid sketching at the . Unlike traditional involving spray paint on trains or walls—which prioritized tagging, color layering, and durability—Haring's subway drawings were reversible and non-destructive, using that could be easily wiped away, aligning with his goal of democratic, ephemeral visibility rather than territorial marking. He often scanned multiple stations daily, selecting panels in high-traffic areas like those near turnstiles, and incorporated performative elements by drawing in view of commuters, fostering immediate interaction and feedback. From 1980 to 1985, Haring created over 5,000 such drawings across hundreds of stations, though most were promptly erased or papered over by workers, with survival rates low due to the lack of fixatives or protective measures. This ephemerality influenced his evolution toward more permanent murals on walls and canvases, but the subway phase honed his signature style of simplified, radiant motifs—like barking dogs, flying saucers, and human figures in motion—optimized for quick recognition at subway distances. Haring's approach drew partial inspiration from the prevailing graffiti culture's scale and pop imagery but rejected its illegality-driven permanence, opting for chalk's accessibility to critique and engage without vandalism's destructiveness.

Artistic Style and Iconography

Core Symbols and Visual Language

Keith Haring's emerged from his subway chalk drawings and roots, featuring bold, continuous black outlines filled with flat, unmodulated areas of primary colors to produce high-contrast, instantly legible images. This approach emphasized rhythmic lines that radiated energy and motion, often encircling figures to suggest vibration or aura, drawing from ancient pictograms and hieroglyphs for a universal, non-verbal communication system. Unlike traditional with and perspective, Haring's style prioritized simplicity and scalability, enabling reproduction on walls, posters, and merchandise while conveying social messages through dynamic, interlocking forms that implied perpetual activity. At the core of this lexicon were recurring icons that Haring refined into a personal symbology, each motif distilled to essential lines for rapid recognition and adaptability across contexts. The radiant baby—a crawling encircled by emanating rays—appeared in works from the early onward, symbolizing innocence, birth, and nascent ideas amid , as Haring drew it frequently in to evoke in vulnerable . The barking dog, rendered with angular limbs and an open, snarling mouth, recurred as a vigilant or menacing figure, interpreted as representing authority, guardianship, or aggressive power structures in society. Other motifs included flying saucers with trailing propulsion lines, denoting extraterrestrial intrusion or technological alienation, often juxtaposed with human forms to critique modernity's discontents. Three-eyed smiling faces and monsters suggested altered states or surveillance, while intertwined nude figures in ecstatic poses conveyed eroticism, unity, or communal rhythm, reflecting Haring's interest in human connection and sexuality without explicit narrative. Angels with wings and devils with horns added moral dualities, the former embodying protection and spirituality, as seen in murals like the 1986 Untitled angel in New York. These symbols, devoid of text in early iterations, allowed layered interpretations—personal to Haring yet accessible publicly—forming a coded grammar that evolved minimally from 1980 to his death in 1990, prioritizing immediacy over ambiguity.

Techniques, Materials, and Evolution of Style

Keith Haring's initial artistic output in featured ephemeral chalk drawings on the black paper advertising panels adorning unused subway station spaces, produced spontaneously between 1980 and 1985. These works employed simple to create continuous, bold outlines of human figures, animals, and symbols, leveraging the high-contrast black background for immediate visual impact without requiring shading or perspective. The technique prioritized speed and accessibility, allowing Haring to complete pieces in minutes amid commuting crowds, with hundreds or thousands executed before many were erased by authorities or transit workers. Transitioning to gallery and studio practice around 1981, Haring shifted to durable materials like acrylic paints on canvas or , applying thick black contour lines filled with flat, vibrant primary colors such as red, yellow, and blue, often without gradations to emphasize symbolic clarity over realism. He incorporated enamel paints for glossy finishes on metal panels and sculptures, and experimented with Day-Glo fluorescent paints to enhance luminosity and energy, drawing from aesthetics while adapting them for institutional contexts. These methods maintained the rhythmic, linear dynamism of his subway origins, influenced by hip-hop rhythms and movements he observed in clubs. For large-scale public murals, Haring utilized spray paints and rollers on walls, tarpaulin, or fiberglass surfaces to achieve broad coverage efficiently, as demonstrated in the 1986 "Crack is Wack" mural executed with aerosol on a handball court wall. This approach enabled rapid execution of monumental works, scaling up his iconography while preserving the bold, interlocking forms devoid of negative space. Later, he explored sculptural forms in painted fiberglass or vinyl, and printmaking techniques including screen printing, lithography, etching, woodcuts, and embossing to replicate imagery for posters, books, and merchandise. Haring's style evolved from the abstract configurations of his 1978 arrival in New York—rooted in influences like Pierre Alechinsky's hard black lines and Japanese graphic traditions—to a mature figurative lexicon by the early , consistently graphic and anti-hierarchical in composition. Despite medium expansions into video animations and like album covers, his core technique remained line-driven, rejecting traditional modeling for a universal, instantly legible that bridged street immediacy with commercial proliferation until his death in 1990.

Rise to Prominence and Commercialization

Haring's entry into formal gallery spaces marked a pivotal shift from ephemeral subway drawings to institutional recognition, beginning with smaller solo shows in 1981. His debut New York solo exhibition took place in February 1981 at Westbeth Painters Space in the West Village, followed by another in November 1981 at Hal Bromm Gallery. These early presentations featured his characteristic bold lines and symbolic figures, drawing initial interest from the downtown art community amid the burgeoning East Village scene. The breakthrough came in 1982 with Haring's first major solo exhibition at Gallery in , which showcased subway-inspired works alongside larger paintings and proved a critical and commercial success, selling out rapidly and solidifying his transition from to gallery mainstay. This show, held in the heart of Manhattan's art district, attracted collectors and propelled Haring into broader visibility, with subsequent exhibitions at galleries like Fun Gallery and expanding his reach. By mid-decade, Haring's works appeared in group shows at institutions such as the Stedelijk Museum in (1986) and the , reflecting his rapid ascent. Media coverage amplified Haring's prominence, initially sparked by his subway chalk drawings starting in 1980, which garnered public and press fascination for their spontaneous, accessible style amid New York's graffiti boom. Post-1982 gallery debut, features in outlets like The Village Voice and Artforum highlighted his fusion of pop culture and , while international press noted collaborations with brands and celebrities, though some critics questioned the commercialization of his anti-establishment roots. This attention peaked in the mid-1980s, coinciding with AIDS awareness campaigns that intertwined his art with , drawing both acclaim and scrutiny in mainstream publications.

Pop Shop Venture and Market Expansion

In April 1986, Keith Haring opened the Pop Shop at 292 in Manhattan's neighborhood, establishing a retail outlet dedicated to selling merchandise featuring reproductions of his iconic imagery. The venture was conceived as a direct extension of Haring's practice, aiming to democratize access to his work by offering affordable items such as T-shirts, posters, buttons, magnets, toys, and other at prices ranging from a few dollars to under $20, bypassing the exclusivity of high-end galleries. Haring articulated this intent by stating that "art is nothing if you don't reach every segment of the people," positioning the shop as a means to distribute his symbols widely, akin to his earlier subway chalk drawings. The Pop Shop's interior was designed as an immersive environment, with walls, ceilings, and fixtures adorned in Haring's bold, graphic style, creating a performative space that blurred lines between retail and . Products emphasized Haring's core motifs—radiant babies, barking dogs, and flying saucers—printed in vibrant colors on everyday objects, enabling consumers to incorporate his into personal wardrobes and homes. This model facilitated market expansion by shifting Haring's output from limited-edition to mass-produced goods, with initial daily foot traffic drawing crowds eager for tangible connections to his street-level fame. The endeavor sparked debate within the art establishment, where critics accused Haring of commodifying his oeuvre and diluting its subversive edge through , a charge amplified by parallels to Andy Warhol's commercial experiments. Haring countered that unauthorized reproductions already proliferated his images on bootleg items, and the Pop Shop allowed him to retain creative control while funding his nonprofit initiatives, such as AIDS advocacy. A second location opened in in 1988, extending the venture internationally and adapting to local demand with similar merchandise assortments, further broadening Haring's global commercial footprint before his death in 1990.

Social and Political Activism

AIDS Advocacy and Anti-Drug Efforts

In 1986, amid New York City's crack epidemic, Keith Haring painted the "Crack is Wack" mural on a handball court wall at 128th Street and 2nd Avenue in East Harlem, overlooking the Harlem River Drive. The two-sided work, first created illegally on June 27, featured Haring's signature bold outlines and vibrant colors depicting figures fleeing a coiled snake symbolizing addiction's destructive grip, aimed at warning youth against crack cocaine use. Motivated by a friend's struggle with crack dependency and the drug's devastating community impact, Haring restored the mural multiple times after vandalism and official removal attempts, transforming the site into a protected public landmark now part of Crack is Wack Playground. Haring's anti-drug activism extended beyond this signature piece, reflecting his broader commitment to addressing urban social decay through accessible , though it drew criticism for oversimplifying complex socioeconomic factors fueling the epidemic. Following his diagnosis in 1987 and AIDS progression by late 1988, Haring intensified AIDS advocacy, leveraging his platform for education and fundraising despite his deteriorating health. He had promoted campaigns since 1985, incorporating condom imagery and explicit messages into posters and murals to combat stigma and transmission. As a key supporter of (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), Haring designed graphics like the 1989 "Ignorance = Fear, Silence = Death" poster, funded protest logistics including buses and mailing costs, and reportedly covered one-third of the group's 1989 receipts through art sales and donations. In 1989, Haring founded the Keith Haring Foundation to sustain AIDS-related grants and provide royalty-free use of his imagery for nonprofit awareness efforts, channeling proceeds from his work toward research and support services. His final years saw continued production of AIDS-themed art, including billboards and collaborations, emphasizing urgency in response without diluting the epidemic's biological realities or personal toll.

Anti-Apartheid and Other Causes

Keith Haring produced the Free South Africa series in 1985 as a direct artistic condemnation of 's apartheid regime, featuring stark imagery of a Black figure ensnared by a to symbolize racial and state violence. The series originated from a 1984 painting and expanded into lithographs and posters, with editions limited to 60 signed and numbered prints each. In 1986, Haring distributed approximately 20,000 copies of the Free South Africa poster throughout to galvanize public opposition to apartheid policies. These efforts aligned with broader international protests against the regime, though Haring's involvement remained centered on visual rather than organizational leadership. Beyond anti-apartheid work, Haring engaged in anti-nuclear activism, producing and freely distributing 20,000 copies of a for a 1982 rally opposing . This piece, like his other protest graphics, employed bold, iconic symbols to convey urgency without textual complexity, reflecting his strategy of mass accessibility for political messaging. He also handed out posters at demonstrations advocating , extending his practice of using ephemeral to challenge geopolitical threats. Haring's broader political output critiqued issues such as homophobia and unchecked through murals and prints, though these were often interwoven with his primary focuses on crises and racial injustice.

Controversies in Activism and Messaging

Haring's public murals and posters, intended to convey urgent social messages through accessible iconography, occasionally provoked accusations of cultural appropriation. In February 1984, during a visit to Australia, Haring created a large-scale mural on the glass facade of the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne, featuring his characteristic radiant figures and bold lines as part of his global activism promoting visibility and joy amid political strife. Australian activists condemned the work for resembling Indigenous Aboriginal dot paintings and line motifs, viewing it as an outsider's insensitive borrowing from sacred cultural traditions without contextual understanding. Haring expressed surprise at the backlash, maintaining that his style derived from New York subway graffiti and universal human forms rather than specific Indigenous influences, and that the criticism misinterpreted his intent to create public art transcending boundaries. The controversy escalated when a protester hurled a shot put through the glass a month later, destroying the piece and highlighting tensions between Haring's democratizing ethos and local sensitivities to colonial legacies in art. Broader critiques have targeted Haring's stylistic reliance on "primitive" or non-Western aesthetics in service of anti-racism and anti-apartheid messaging, arguing it inadvertently perpetuated a white artist's fantasy of universality at the expense of cultural specificity. Art historian Ricardo Montez, in his 2020 analysis, contends that Haring's radiant icons and simplified figures, while drawn from collaborations with Black and Latino street artists like LA II (Angel Ortiz), echoed appropriations of Black and Brown visual languages without fully reckoning with the power dynamics of a white Pennsylvanian imposing them on global issues like apartheid. For instance, his 1985 "Free South Africa" poster series depicted stark confrontations between figures symbolizing oppression and resistance, yet Montez notes Haring's journals reveal a personal disavowal of whiteness ("inside, I’m not white") that critics interpret as naive liberalism masking entitlement in depicting racial violence, such as a Black figure wielding a noose against white oppressors. These works, produced amid Haring's support for divestment campaigns, faced post-mortem scrutiny for prioritizing symbolic inversion over nuanced engagement with affected communities' self-representations. Additional contention arose from Haring's uncredited integration of subcultures into his activist , with some contemporaries alleging he drew from Puerto Rican and other urban styles without acknowledgment, diluting their origins in favor of a homogenized message. Collaborator later publicly complained of inadequate compensation and recognition for contributions to pieces addressing AIDS and , underscoring frictions in Haring's model of communal yet hierarchical activism. Despite such criticisms, often framed through contemporary lenses of , Haring's defenders emphasize empirical outcomes: his visuals amplified awareness for causes like AIDS prevention, reaching millions via posters distributed at rallies, without evidence of deliberate exploitation. The debates persist in academic circles, questioning whether his pursuit of " for everybody" inherently risked oversimplifying complex oppressions into universal symbols.

Personal Life and Relationships

Sexuality and Romantic Partnerships

Keith Haring openly identified as homosexual and became immersed in New York City's gay subculture upon arriving in 1978, frequenting clubs such as the where he engaged in casual sexual encounters and formed early connections within the community. His experiences in these environments, characterized by anonymous hookups and vibrant nightlife, influenced his personal life amid the pre-AIDS era's sexual liberation, though he later reflected on the risks as the epidemic emerged. Haring's first significant romantic partnership was with Juan Dubose, a DJ he met in 1981; their relationship lasted until 1986 and coincided with Haring's rising prominence in the art scene. Following this, in late 1987, Haring began a relationship with Juan Rivera, a 19-year-old Puerto Rican DJ also known as Juanito Xtravaganza, whom he described as a profound emotional attachment despite its intensity and brevity. Rivera accompanied Haring through his AIDS diagnosis in 1987, and they remained together until Haring's death in 1990, though Haring's will excluded Rivera from inheritance, leading to later disputes over his legacy. Prior to these partnerships, Haring had an early heterosexual relationship with a high school named Suzy, which ended as his attractions shifted toward men during his late teens and years at the Ivy School of Professional Art in . Throughout his adult life, Haring maintained numerous casual male partners alongside these primary relationships, aligning with the promiscuous dynamics of 1980s gay urban life before widespread AIDS awareness campaigns.

Key Friendships and Collaborations

Haring formed early friendships in New York City's downtown art scene, particularly with fellow students and , whom he met around 1978 at Club 57, a hub for artists, musicians, and performers. These bonds influenced Haring's shift from studies to graffiti-style chalk drawings on subway advertising panels starting in 1980, as Scharf and Basquiat shared similar interests in and pop culture appropriation. His relationship with , beginning in 1984 after Haring's exhibition at Gallery, evolved into a where Warhol introduced him to elite art circles and celebrity networks. They collaborated on works like the "" series in 1986, blending Haring's radiant icons with Warhol's silkscreen techniques, and Haring attended Madonna's 1985 wedding with Warhol as his guest. This partnership highlighted mutual influences, with Haring providing Warhol access to while benefiting from Warhol's commercial savvy, though their dynamic was symbiotic rather than hierarchical. Haring and Basquiat maintained a close yet competitive friendship amid the art boom, collaborating on pieces such as "Aoyama Flowers" (1983) and "The Mechanical Animal," which fused Haring's linear figures with Basquiat's text-heavy symbolism. Following Basquiat's death in 1988, Haring created the memorial painting A Pile of Crowns for Jean-Michel Basquiat, featuring stacked crowns—a motif associated with Basquiat—over Haring's signature forms, underscoring their shared roots and personal loss. Beyond visual artists, Haring's collaborations extended to musicians and performers, including a friendship with forged in the early 1980s New York clubs, where she wore Haring-designed skirts in her 1984 "Borderline" video and promoted his work amid rising fame. He also partnered with for body painting during her 1983-1984 performances and album artwork, integrating his motifs into her aesthetic. These ties amplified Haring's reach into pop culture, though they occasionally drew criticism for commercializing origins.

Final Years, Illness, and Death

Health Decline and Lasting Works

In 1987, Haring tested positive for after experiencing breathing difficulties and discovering a purple lesion on his leg, symptoms that prompted medical evaluation. By autumn 1988, his condition had progressed to AIDS, accompanied by the development of , a cancer commonly associated with the disease in that era. These health challenges intensified over the following years, marked by physical weakening and opportunistic infections, yet Haring maintained a rigorous schedule of art production and public appearances amid experimental treatments available at the time. Despite his illness, Haring produced a significant body of work in his final years, channeling his condition into themes of urgency, sexuality, and mortality while amplifying AIDS awareness. His paintings from 1988–1989 often featured intensified phallic motifs, radiant babies, and barking dogs, evolving toward darker, more introspective compositions that contrasted his earlier exuberance. Notable among these are unfinished pieces like Untitled (1989), deliberately left incomplete to symbolize the abrupt interruption of life by AIDS, and large-scale canvases exhibited in his last shows, which emphasized raw energy and social commentary. Public murals remained a priority, with Haring completing outdoor works that endured as testaments to his resilience. One such example is the mural in , , painted in June 1989, depicting interlocking figures in a message of global unity amid personal strife. These late efforts, produced under physical duress, underscored Haring's commitment to accessible art as , ensuring his persisted in public spaces even as his health waned.

Death and Immediate Aftermath

Keith Haring died on February 16, 1990, at the age of 31 from complications related to AIDS at his apartment on LaGuardia Place in Manhattan's . His illness had progressed rapidly after an AIDS diagnosis in late 1988, amid the broader that claimed numerous lives in New York's creative communities during the 1980s and early 1990s. Following his death, Haring was cremated, and his ashes were scattered in a field near Bowers, , approximately seven miles south of his hometown of Kutztown. A public memorial service was held on May 4, 1990, at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in , attended by nearly 1,000 people including friends, artists, and admirers. The event featured playful reminiscences, songs, and tributes reflecting Haring's vibrant personality and social commitments, with speakers emphasizing his unpretentious approach to and . The immediate response to Haring's death included widespread grief in the , underscoring the AIDS crisis's toll on young talents and prompting reflections on his role in raising awareness about the disease through his work. Efforts to manage public condolences and preserve his legacy intensified shortly thereafter, building on the Keith Haring Foundation he had established in 1989 to support AIDS research and children's programs.

Legacy and Cultural Impact

Keith Haring Foundation and Philanthropy

The Keith Haring Foundation was established by the artist in 1989, one year before his death from AIDS-related complications, with the explicit purpose of perpetuating his artistic and philanthropic commitments. Haring directed the foundation to prioritize support for not-for-profit organizations assisting children in crisis—particularly underprivileged youth—and those providing education, prevention, and care for individuals affected by . This reflected his personal , including creating artwork for hospitals, orphanages, and public awareness campaigns on AIDS during the . The foundation's core mission remains to sustain, expand, and protect Haring's legacy, art, and ideals through grants, preservation of his archives and collection, and licensing of his imagery, with proceeds funding charitable activities. It awards grants annually to 501(c)(3) nonprofits engaged in educational and charitable work, focusing on enriching the lives of vulnerable children and combating stigma and spread, often prioritizing New York City-based initiatives for adolescents at risk. Notable examples include a $1 million grant to the of American in 2012 to support exhibitions of Haring's work, a $1 million award to Performance Space New York in 2020 for programming aligned with his ideals, and an $800,000 contribution in 2022 toward endowing a Keith Haring Fellowship in and Activism at . In addition to grants, the foundation advances Haring's philanthropy by partnering with entities like the Pediatric AIDS Foundation to enhance prevention and care for children globally, and by facilitating access to arts education for disadvantaged youth through initiatives such as HaringKids.com. Licensing revenue from merchandise and reproductions of Haring's iconic motifs, such as the radiant baby and barking dog, directly sustains these efforts, ensuring ongoing funding for AIDS research, children's programs, and anti-stigma work without reliance on unsubstantiated narratives of universal progress in these areas.

Influence on Art, Pop Culture, and Activism

Keith Haring's bold, linear style and iconic motifs, such as radiant babies and barking dogs, bridged subculture with , pioneering art's transition into institutional recognition during the 1980s New York scene. Between 1980 and 1985, he executed hundreds of chalk drawings on unused subway advertising panels, exposing his energetic figures and social symbols to daily commuters and establishing a template for ephemeral public interventions that influenced subsequent artists. This approach merged pop art's accessibility with activist messaging, impacting creators like and , who adapted public spaces for political commentary using simplified, immediate visuals. Haring extended his reach into pop culture through commercialization, opening the Pop Shop in in April 1986 to sell affordable items like T-shirts, posters, and toys emblazoned with his designs, democratizing ownership and critiquing elite gallery exclusivity. Collaborations amplified this: he partnered with for clothing lines incorporating his graffiti elements, and later licensing deals with , , and integrated his motifs into mass-market products, sustaining visibility in fashion and consumer goods decades after his death. His joint works with further embedded his imagery in 1980s cultural crossovers between visual and music scenes. In activism, Haring's murals and posters directly confronted crises, with the "Crack is Wack" handball court mural in East Harlem, painted in May 1986 and repainted after city removal, symbolizing resistance to the crack epidemic ravaging New York youth. His AIDS-related output, including safe-sex posters distributed from 1985 onward featuring explicit phallic and prophylactic icons, pierced public silence on the disease amid federal inaction, elevating awareness through graphic candor before his 1987 diagnosis. These efforts modeled art's role in , inspiring ongoing uses of visual symbolism for and anti-drug campaigns, while his foundation's royalties from merchandise continue funding related causes.

Critical Reception and Ongoing Debates

Keith Haring's work garnered immediate public enthusiasm in the early through his chalk drawings on advertising panels, which drew crowds and media attention for their bold, symbolic imagery addressing social issues like AIDS and apartheid. However, fine art critics often dismissed these as ephemeral emblematic of 1980s superficiality, with Robert Hughes deriding Haring as "Keith Boring" in Time magazine for lacking depth amid the era's consumerist excess. Despite such snideness, Haring's rapid gallery transitions and sales—evidenced by solo shows at Gallery starting in 1982—affirmed his appeal, with critic Vivien Raynor noting him as "an artist nobody doesn't love" for his vivacious accessibility. A central debate emerged around Haring's embrace of commerce, epitomized by his 1986 Pop Shop in , which sold affordable merchandise like T-shirts and buttons featuring his icons to bypass elite art markets and fund activism. Haring argued this merged art and commerce to democratize access, countering "commodity-hype" by retaining creative control, yet detractors accused him of diluting radical intent through , viewing it as a sell-out that prioritized branding over substance. This tension persists posthumously, as the Keith Haring Foundation licenses designs to brands like and , generating $7-8 million annually for AIDS and children's causes, but sparking backlash for omitting contextual activism like themes in products, potentially sanitizing his edge for profit. Critics have questioned the stylistic simplicity of Haring's linear, cartoonish forms—characterized by bold outlines and radiant motifs—as more akin to advertising graphics than profound fine art, arguing the bright colors and reduced figures suited commercial appeal over nuanced critique. While Haring intended this universality to transcend barriers, exhibitions like The Broad's 2023 survey highlight how his self-referential focus and unexamined borrowings from Egyptian hieroglyphs, pre-Columbian, and Aboriginal sources reflect white artistic privilege, complicating claims of inclusivity despite collaborations with figures like Jean-Michel Basquiat. Ongoing discussions probe whether Haring's legacy sustains causal impact in or devolves into mythic pop , with some viewing his anti-capitalist as undermined by market success—evident in a 2017 Sotheby's canvas fetching £5 million—while others credit his model for pioneering art's mainstream viability without institutional gatekeeping. Disputes over collaborations, such as artist LA II's marginalization by the estate, underscore tensions between Haring's communal ideals and posthumous authentication controls. Scholar notes Haring's earnest social engagement was hampered by entitlement, yet his unfiltered depictions of sexuality, violence, and death in works like the 1985 anti-apartheid series reveal a rawer undercurrent often overshadowed by sanitized reproductions.

Art Market and Authentication

Auction Performance and Major Collections

Keith Haring's artworks have demonstrated robust performance in the , with auction sales reflecting sustained demand for his paintings, drawings, and prints. The artist's highest auction price to date is $6,537,500, achieved by Untitled (1982), a chalk-on-paper work sold at New York in May 2017. Other notable sales include multiple untitled works fetching between $4 million and $5 million, often from the early period when Haring transitioned from subway drawings to gallery pieces. In November 2024, auctioned 31 of Haring's rare subway chalk drawings for a total of $9.2 million, surpassing the $6.9 million pre-sale estimate and highlighting collector interest in his ephemeral origins. The print market for Haring has shown particular growth, with annual sales values increasing from £2 million in 2020 to £4 million in recent years, driven by editions like and Flowers sets that have set records in their categories. According to Mei Moses index, Haring's resold works from 2003 to 2017 yielded an average of 13.3%, with a 91.9% rate across 74 lots analyzed. Prints have exhibited a of nearly 15%, underscoring the accessibility and investment appeal of his mass-produced imagery compared to rarer paintings. Haring's works are held in prominent institutional collections worldwide, managed in part through the Keith Haring Foundation's archives and partnerships. in New York houses key pieces such as Untitled (1982) and collaborative prints, representing his intersection of and social commentary. also maintains significant holdings, including drawings and paintings that trace his evolution from to institutional recognition. in features major canvases like Untitled (1984) and Red Room (1988), emphasizing his bold, figurative style in a contemporary context. Additional collections span institutions like the , which preserves 1980s acquisitions reflecting Haring's early gallery ties.

Forgery Issues and Market Challenges

The proliferation of forgeries in Keith Haring's oeuvre stems primarily from the artist's distinctive, linear graffiti-inspired style, which relies on bold outlines and minimalistic figures that are relatively straightforward to imitate by unskilled forgers. Among major artists emerging since the , Haring faces the highest incidence of fakes and forgeries, exacerbated by his rapid rise to posthumous market prominence and the abundance of his chalk drawings on New York subways, which were ephemeral and undocumented in many cases. This has led to widespread counterfeits, including paintings, prints, and sculptures, often sold through online platforms like , where fakes mimicking Haring alongside artists like Basquiat have flooded the . Authentication hinges largely on the Keith Haring Foundation, established in 1989 to oversee the artist's estate, which examines provenance, materials, signatures, and stylistic consistency but has adopted a conservative stance amid litigation risks. The Foundation's rejections have sparked disputes, such as a 2014 exhibition in New York featuring contested works labeled as fakes by the organization, prompting lawsuits alleging overreach to control supply and maintain high values. In one case, Polish collector Laura Bilinski sued after the Foundation deemed her paintings inauthentic despite provided provenance; the suit was dismissed in 2015, highlighting the evidentiary burdens on claimants. Critics, including some collectors, contend that such rejections occasionally encompass genuine pieces to limit market saturation, though the Foundation maintains its decisions protect against dilution of verified works. Market challenges intensified with high-profile forgery busts, including the 2021 arrest of Angel Pereda, accused of producing and attempting to sell Haring paintings with fabricated provenances to intermediaries in New York. Galleries have also faced exposure, as in a 2024 incident where a dealer sold a forged Haring, underscoring vulnerabilities in unregulated sales channels. These issues erode buyer confidence, inflate costs, and contribute to price volatility; while authentic Haring pieces command premiums—such as a 2023 auction record of $4.1 million for a 1984 —suspected fakes depress secondary transactions and deter institutional acquisitions. Independent experts recommend scrutinizing ink types, canvas aging, and exhibition histories, but the absence of a centralized, litigation-proof board since the early has left collectors reliant on forensic and Foundation certificates, which are not always conclusive.

References

  1. https://www.theartstory.org/artist/haring-keith/
  2. https://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/g/graffiti-art/five-things-know-keith-haring
  3. https://www.haring.com/#!/about-haring/bio
  4. https://thehorizonsun.com/features/2022/12/09/keith-haring-a-legacy-remembered/
  5. https://guyhepner.com/news/370-the-boy-from-kutztown-pa-haring-s-early-life-inspirations/
  6. https://jedidiahgallery.com/art-journal/2021/11/3/pa-to-pop-art-the-keith-haring-story
  7. https://www.haring.com/!/about-haring/bio
  8. https://haring.com/!/about-haring/to-new-york
  9. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/keith-haring-biography/16012/
  10. https://haring.com/!/about-haring/bio
  11. https://www.moma.org/calendar/exhibitions/3824
  12. https://smarthistory.org/keith-haring-subway-drawings/
  13. https://redeightgallery.com/viewing-room/4-keith-haring-the-subway-drawings/
  14. https://www.brattleboromuseum.org/2022/09/09/keith-haring-subway-drawings/
  15. https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/graffiti-subways-keith-haring/
  16. https://www.museum-brandhorst.de/en/collection/untitled-subway-drawing
  17. https://andipaeditions.com/blog/231-keith-haring-semiotics-coded-language/
  18. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/keith-haring-albertina-museum-vienna-1247417
  19. https://guyhepner.com/news/372-keith-harings-iconography-decoding-his-most-iconic-motifs/
  20. https://openlab.citytech.cuny.edu/lange-comd3504-ol02-fa2021/files/2021/12/Keith-Haring-Symbolism.pdf
  21. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/iconography-and-activism-keith-harings-icons
  22. https://rhodescontemporaryart.com/news/282-the-visual-keith-haring-dictionary-by-rhodes-contemporary-art/
  23. https://guyhepner.com/news/210-keith-haring-icons-the-haring-visual-lexicon/
  24. https://andipagallery.com/blog/125-keith-haring-s-visual-language-as-told-through-four-symbols/
  25. https://www.themoderninstitute.com/exhibitions/subway-drawings-2024-06-07/8974/
  26. https://www.debuckgallery.com/exhibitions/keith-haring-subway-drawings/
  27. https://en.canson.com/expert-advice/introduction-contemporary-art-style-keith-haring
  28. https://readfoyer.com/article/seven-ways-keith-haring-made-art
  29. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/life-and-legacy-keith-haring-street-art-to-gallery
  30. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/guides/the-dog-the-baby-and-the-globe-a-guide-to-keith-harings-icons-devices-and-meaning
  31. https://the-easel.com/essays/the-ancient-art-of-keith-haring/
  32. https://www.leverhouseartcollection.com/commissions/keith-harring
  33. https://www.uniqlo.com/jp/en/contents/feature/ut-magazine/s122/
  34. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/keith-harings-art-emergence-street-art-1980s
  35. https://www.mocomuseum.com/news/about/simon-doonan-on-keith-haring-aids-and-1980s-new-york/
  36. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/inside-keith-harings-pop-shop
  37. https://www.nyhistory.org/exhibitions/keith-harings-pop-shop-ceiling
  38. https://guyhepner.com/artists/40-keith-haring/works/7-keith-haring-pop-shop-i-a-littmann-pp.-82-1987/
  39. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/10-facts/10-facts-keith-haring-pop-shop
  40. https://publicdelivery.org/keith-haring-crack-is-wack/
  41. https://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/crack-is-wack-playground/history
  42. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/facing-death-from-aids-keith-haring-kept-creating/16169/
  43. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/keith-haring-aids-activism
  44. https://www.thehenryford.org/collections-and-research/digital-collections/artifact/493038
  45. https://www.csis.org/analysis/keith-harings-legacy-todays-world-conversation-about-hiv-activism
  46. https://visualaids.org/artists/keith-haring
  47. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/series-free-south-africa
  48. https://hyperallergic.com/645393/the-darker-side-of-keith-haring/
  49. https://www.schellmannart.com/en/works/164/keith-haring-untitled-free-south-africa
  50. https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/free-south-africa-keith-haring/ygGNPqIX3l8fOQ?hl=en
  51. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/10-facts/10-facts-haring-free-south-africa
  52. https://guyhepner.com/news/376-the-political-art-of-keith-haring-activism-in-lines-and-symbols/
  53. https://walkerart.org/magazine/politics-keith-haring-2/
  54. https://andipagallery.com/blog/107-the-politics-of-keith-haring-as-told-through-three-works./
  55. https://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/keith-haring-documentary-film/
  56. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/10-lesser-known-facts-about-keith-haring/16152/
  57. https://www.yieldstreet.com/blog/article/broad-strokes-keith-haring/
  58. https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/essay/fragile-memories-keith-haring-and-the-water-window-mural-at-the-national-gallery-of-victoria/
  59. https://www.thebody.com/article/new-book-explores-racial-politics-of-artist-keith-haring
  60. https://www.dukeupress.edu/keith-harings-line
  61. https://www.frieze.com/article/keith-haring-art-everybody-2023-review
  62. https://www.reddit.com/r/ContemporaryArt/comments/egkmsi/what_do_you_guys_think_about_keith_harring/
  63. https://www.marxist.ca/article/keith-haring-is-art-for-everybody-possible-under-capitalism
  64. https://newrepublic.com/article/180401/keith-haring-art-everywhere
  65. https://www.bookforum.com/print/3004/how-keith-haring-got-his-halo-25342
  66. https://www.advocate.com/arts-entertainment/books/2009/01/16/arts-forgotten-widow
  67. https://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/1907655.html
  68. https://deodato.us/blogs/blog/kenny-scharf-and-keith-haring-a-bond-between-art-and-friendship
  69. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/10-facts/10-facts-about-haring-andy-mouse
  70. https://guyhepner.com/news/374-warhol-haring-friends-collaborators.-icons./
  71. https://andipaeditions.com/blog/204-keith-haring-and-andy-warhol-the-dynamic-duo/
  72. https://news.masterworksfineart.com/2024/05/29/the-iconic-collaboration-keith-haring-and-basquiat
  73. https://deodato.us/blogs/blog/icons-and-friends-the-special-friendship-between-keith-haring-and-madonna
  74. https://www.dailyartmagazine.com/grace-jones-keith-haring/
  75. https://www.andipaeditions.com/blog/283-how-did-keith-haring-die/
  76. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/02/17/obituaries/keith-haring-artist-dies-at-31-career-began-in-subway-graffiti.html
  77. https://www.biography.com/artists/keith-haring
  78. https://guyhepner.com/news/484-keith-haring-s-death-news-that-shook-the-world/
  79. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/3479/keith-haring
  80. https://shelbeeontheedge.com/style-imitating-art-tree-of-life-by-keith-haring/
  81. https://foundationblog.haring.com/topics/death
  82. https://www.facebook.com/NYCAIDSMemorial/posts/the-memorial-service-for-legendary-artist-keith-haring-was-held-onthisday-may-4-/1126209359532793/
  83. https://www.nytimes.com/1990/05/05/arts/friends-memorialize-keith-haring-in-song-and-playful-reminiscence.html
  84. https://blog.mariabrito.com/articles/2014/5/22/long-live-the-legacy-of-keith-haring-an-interview-with-julia-gruen-executive-director-of-the-keith-haring-foundation
  85. https://www.haring.com/
  86. https://www.haring.com/kh_foundation/
  87. https://www.haring.com/kh_foundation/grants/grant-guidelines
  88. https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-xpm-2012-oct-29-la-et-cm-keith-haring-foundation-gives-1-million-to-whitney-museum-20121028-story.html
  89. https://www.artforum.com/news/keith-haring-foundation-awards-1-million-to-performance-space-new-york-246085/
  90. https://www.bard.edu/news/32-million-given-to-bard-college-endowing-keith-haring-fellowship-in-art-and-activism-in-perpetuity-2022-09-21
  91. https://pedaids.org/press-release/elizabeth-glaser-pediatric-aids-foundation-and-the-keith-haring-foundation-partner-to-end-aids-in-children/
  92. https://haringkids.com/
  93. https://www.reddit.com/r/todayilearned/comments/1gc72k0/til_that_shortly_before_artist_keith_haring_died/
  94. https://andipaeditions.com/blog/172-exploring-the-legacy-and-influence-of-keith-haring/
  95. https://www.paulfrasercollectibles.com/blogs/most-recent/the-essential-guide-to-keith-haring
  96. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/keith-haring-vivienne-westwood
  97. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/nov/17/keith-haring-art-fashion-brand-partnerships
  98. https://www.nyclgbtsites.org/site/keith-haring-crack-is-wack/
  99. https://www.socialstudies.org/system/files/2023-06/MLL_7701.pdf
  100. https://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-liverpool/keith-haring/yes-but-why-keith-haring
  101. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2019/jun/02/public-has-right-to-art-keith-haring-tate-liverpool-exhibition
  102. https://apollo-magazine.com/keith-haring-tate-liverpool-review/
  103. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/keith-haring-democratic-art-practice
  104. https://news.artnet.com/market/subway-haring-auction-2574129
  105. https://www.sothebys.com/en/artists/keith-haring
  106. https://www.moma.org/collection/artists/2505
  107. https://whitney.org/artists/2685
  108. https://www.thebroad.org/art/special-exhibitions/keith-haring-art-everybody
  109. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/keith-haring-fakes-1942382
  110. https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-keith-haring/articles/how-to-haring-prints-authenticate
  111. https://hyperallergic.com/764867/the-fake-art-industry-is-booming-online/
  112. https://guyhepner.com/news/483-how-to-check-if-a-keith-haring-work-authentication-and-legitimacy/
  113. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/authenticity-fight-over-keith-haring-paintings-raises-complex-questions-2641
  114. https://blog.sullivanlaw.com/artlawreport/2015/03/11/authentication-lawsuit-against-keith-haring-foundation-is-dismissed/
  115. https://www.ksl.com/article/28795005
  116. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/arts/design/man-arrested-fake-basquiats-harings.html
  117. https://artscapy.com/view-post/art-fakes-swindlers-and-the-almost
Add your contribution
Related Hubs
User Avatar
No comments yet.