About Keith Haring
Keith Haring was born on May 4, 1958 and grew up in Kutstown, Pennsylvania. He was the oldest of five children. It showed at a young age that he loved to draw. He was influenced by the popular author Dr. Seuss, by Walt Disney and his father's drawings. "...My father made cartoons. Since I was little, I had been doing cartoons, creating characters and stories. In my mind, though, there was a separation between cartooning and being an 'artist'..." Keith said.
Keith admitted in an interview, "I'd been convinced to go [to art school] by my parents and guidance counselor. They said that if I was going to seriously pursue being an artist, I should have some commercial-art background. I went to a commercial-art school, where I quickly realized that I didn't want to be an illustrator or a graphic designer. The people I met who were doing it seemed really unhappy; they said that they were only doing it for a job while they did their own art on the side, but in reality that was never the case--their own art was lost. I quit the school." Although Haring dropped out of art school in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he continued to study art and exhibit his work. He decided to move to New York and enrolled in an art school there.
As an art student in New York, he loved the energy and spirit of graffitti artists and musicians in the community. Haring was an artist who wanted to bring art to everyone. Keith experimented with performance, video, and collage, but he continued working on his drawings.
When he rode the subway, Keith noticed the plain black paper in the subways. He ran out and bought some white chalk and returned to the subway to draw. Although Keith knew he might get in trouble with the police, he worked fast and drew line drawings. He drew hundreds of these public drawings between 1980 and 1985. Sometimes he created as many as forty of the chalk, "subway drawings" in a day.
His simple drawings came to life. People, barking dogs, light bulbs, flying saucers, and skateboards are a few images he became known for with his graffitti. When people asked him what his drawings meant, he used to say, "It's your job to decide. I only do the drawing!".
Keith used symbolism in his art. He often signed his work with his "Radiant Baby" drawing instead of his name. The rays around the baby were not meant to be radioactive but symbolized energy. Other pictures he used frequently are his "Barking Dog" and dancing people. Haring cared about making art with social messages. Among the subjects of his drawings were birth, death, love and war.
Kids enjoyed watching Keith work and liked what he was doing. Sometimes he allowed them to work with him. He even drew on their jeans, t-shirts and shoes. Keith designed posters to encourage children to read, created an anti-drug mural, and he donated art to raise money for AIDS research. Keith worked on a mural with 900 children to celebrate the 100th annivesary of the Statue of Liberty. He also taught drawing workshops in schools and museums.
His artwork was influenced by the art of the times. He was interested in modern and abstract art. Keith became a successful artist after exhibiting his work in New York. He made more than fifty public artworks between 1982 and 1989, in cities all over the world.
In 1986, Haring opened a store in Soho, New York called the Pop Shop. He wanted to bring his art to the people so he sold T-shirts, toys and posters with his artwork on them. The store itself is like a piece of his art.
Haring participated in over one hundred solo and group exhibitions. He had many articles written about him in newspapers and magazines and his artwork can be viewed in exhibits and museums all over the world.
In 1988, Keith Haring learned he had AIDS and died at the age of 31, from complications related to the disease in 1990.
