The Biography of an American Artist, Keith Haring

When considering all the famous artists and art movements from the past, it is hard to just choose one to write about. However, after thinking about all my options I decided to write about an American artist known for his pop art style street art, Keith Haring. Haring was born in Reading, Pennsylvania in May of 1958. He had established a love for drawing and art at a young age and admired popular animations such as Dr. Seuss, Looney Toons, and Disney. Haring grew up with this passion and already knew he wanted to be an artist by the time he graduated high school. It was this passion for art that led him to be the famous artist we know of today (“Life and Legacy").

After realizing his goal of becoming an artist, Haring went on to pursue those dreams after high school. He originally attended Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh in 1976, but dropped out after not wanting to become a graphic artist. He then enrolled into The School of Visual Arts in 1978 located in New York City. This is when he started to develop ideas that would later become his unique style. Haring became interested with the art that was happening outside of galleries and museums, particularly the ones in the streets ran by graffiti artists. This was what provoked him to start doing his own purposeful white chalk drawings in the subways using simple lines. Little did he know that these ideas would lead him to create many well-known powerful pieces of work (“Life and Legacy").

Keith’s work in the subway is really what I believe took off his career. The subway art he created allowed him to fulfill his desire of reaching a wider audience about important topics. By the time he was 20, he had strong views on art and the topics he used for inspiration. He ended up creating thousands of public pieces which addressed public problems and got his name out there (int2). A majority of these pieces used certain imagery and text to communicate issues such as drug addiction, AIDS, illicit love, and apartheid. He was able to create a new lively way to address world problems. To draw the attention of the public to these serious issues, he used bright colors, cartoony images, and simple lines. By doing this he was able to create many famous pieces that weren’t just beautiful, but also sent specific messages to the public (“Overview and Analysis").

Within Keith’s career he created many beautiful, significant images. The first of Haring’s works that caught my eye is an untitled piece that a lot of people describe as radiant love. This piece was created in 1982 with acrylic on vinyl. It is an image of two men in love with multiple lines of energy around them. The two men also seem to be dancing in front of a big, red heart in the middle. Even though this painting is flat, he uses bold lines to outline the characters as well as a vibrant red color that pops from the background. As innocent and appealing as this piece is, it was very controversial at the time. He created it to send a statement to the world about homosexual love. It also expressed Haring’s attitude towards the power love and romance. This piece was sort of the start to a lot of other sexual works that Haring made during his lifetime. Compared to those, this image of two men in love is pretty mild. He was able to produce many images like this that drew the attention of the (“Artworks”).

Haring created multiple images that paid attention to the issues in the world. The second work that caught my eye is one called Crack is Wack. This piece was done in 1986 with spray paint as a mural in New York City. The mural was his response to the crack epidemic between the 1980’s and 1990’s across the United States. The image is bright orange with black which immediately catches your attention to the subject. The text in the middle is placed in a cloud of smoke coming from the crack pipe. In the image there is also money burning, which symbolizes the waste of money on the addiction. He also conveys animals in the mural with distorted eyes to represent the insanity that the addiction may cause. Within this piece, Haring was able to incorporate his famous bold lines and lines of energy around all of the figures. He was also able to provide significant awareness to the crack epidemic that was going on and I think that is incredible. This piece was just one of the many influential works that he did in his lifetime (“Artworks”).

Throughout Haring’s life, he created many well-known and powerful pieces of work. On top of the work he created in the streets and subways, his work was shown in over 100 shows. Haring ended up dying from an AIDS illness in the early 1990s. I do believe that he left an impact on the world with his art. By doing a lot of his work in the streets, people started to see the importance and beauty of street art as well as prove its worth for galleries. He was able get the attention of people in the community and get them to rethink the problems that were going on (“Life and Legacy"). He did this in such a unique way in a style that was, and still is, different from everyone else in the art world. That is one of the reasons I believe he is one of the most influential artists of all time.

Works Cited

1. "Keith Haring Artist Overview and Analysis." The Art Story, 2018, www.theartstory.org/artist-haring-keith.htm. Accessed 16 Jul. 2018.
2.  "Keith Haring Artist Life and Legacy." The Art Story, 2018,www.theartstory.org/artist-haring-keith-life-and-legacy.htm. Accessed 15 Jul. 2018.
3.  “Keith Haring Artist Artworks.” The Art Story, 2018, www.theartstory.org/artist-haring-keith-artworks.htm. Accessed 18 Jul. 2018.