Keith Haring: Biography & Artwork

Keith
Haring

Bursting into the creative scene of 1980s New York, Pop Art luminary Keith Haring's unmistakable influence on contemporary art and activism has transformed him into an international sensation. Interested in buying or selling a Haring original print and edition? Browse artworks from the artist's portfolio and enquire today. We provide print value advice and market consultancy, with zero obligation to sell.

Biography

Adored New York activist and artist, Keith Haring is one of the most influential names in Contemporary Art. Famed for his colourful and playful pop-graffiti, and for his socially engaged art – particularly in the context of AIDS activism – Haring believed that 'art is life, and life is art'.

Born in Pennsylvania in 1958, Keith Haring found his love of drawing at a young age through popular cartoons like Walt Disney and Dr Seuss, and moved to New York City in 1978 to study at the School of Visual Arts. From 1980, Haring began to create hundreds of drawings in New York’s streets and subways, calling these spaces his 'laboratory'. It was here that he developed some of the key motifs that defined his art, like his Radiant Baby, which he considered as an image of 'the purest and most positive experience of human existence', and his heart icons and dancing figures, which he used throughout his later works.

In 1982, Haring joined the Tony Shafrazi Gallery and decided to dedicate his life to art. He was soon invited to participate in numerous solo and group exhibitions and became known for his street art style. By the mid-80s, Haring was exhibiting in international biennials and even designed a billboard for Times Square, an advertising campaign for Absolut Vodka and a Swatch watch, as well as painting murals all over the world.

Today, Haring is perhaps best recognised for the active role he played within AIDS activism. Seeing the LGBTQ+ community devastated by the epidemic, and himself diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, Haring used his art to raise awareness about the topic through works like his famous Ignorance = Fear. The works he created often featured the pink triangle image, a symbol reclaimed by the LGBTQ+ rights movement after being used during the Holocaust to mark those being targeted for homosexuality.

Another important aspect of Haring’s art has been his Pop Shop prints. These whimsical images were inspired by the artist’s commitment to making art accessible to all audiences. He opened Pop Shops in New York and in Japan and sold a range of t-shirts, badges, magnets and prints, starting at as little as 50 cents. While the project was praised by friends such as Andy Warhol, Pop Shop was snubbed by many leading art world figures who placed more value on original works of art.

Speaking of the importance of his Pop Shops, Haring said, 'My shop is an extension of what I was doing in the subway stations, breaking down the barriers between high and low art.'

Throughout his career, Haring collaborated with musicians, designers, writers and artists, including Grace Jones, Madonna, William Burroughs and Yoko Ono. But the most influential of them all was undeniably Andy Warhol. 'Warhol’s life and work made my work possible,' Haring once wrote, 'he was the first real public artist and his art and his life changed our conception of art and life in the 20th century'. Haring paid tribute to Warhol in a 1986 series entitled Andy Mouse that saw the famous Pop artist appear in Mickey Mouse shorts with his trademark spiky wig.
Haring’s works often confronted social and political events of the 1980s, such as the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the drugs epidemic and Apartheid in South Africa. As an openly gay artist and activist in the LGBTQ+ rights movement, Haring used his art to fight against homophobia and advocate for safe sex, awareness and research around HIV and AIDS. He also created posters such as Crack Down in 1986 to raise awareness around drug abuse, as well as the Crack Is Wack mural in Harlem in response to the crack cocaine epidemic in New York City.
Haring was well known for his generosity, contributing his talents and resources to numerous causes throughout his career. He ran art workshops for children, created posters for public service agencies and produced murals, sculptures and paintings in the public domain
A year after his diagnosis with AIDS in 1988, he set up The Keith Haring Foundation to provide funding and support to AIDS research, charities and education. The Foundation continues to support not-for-profit organisations that assist underprivileged children and works to maintain and expand the legacy of Keith Haring, his art and his ideals.
After being diagnosed with AIDS, Haring was determined to continue creating as much art as possible, writing that 'work is all I have and art is more important than life'. He created his large-scale canvas The Last Rainforest in 1989, only a few months before he died of AIDS-related complications at the age of 31. The painting was one of Haring’s most remarkably detailed and virtuosic works and was initially supposed to be a part of a series of 100 paintings.
Sotheby’s sold the work as part of the David Lachapelle Collection in 2016, for £4.2million, stating 'It is a tempest; a melting pot where personal stories blend with societal issues and eroticism entwines with violence; where cruelty coincides with frivolity, and fantasy melds with inescapable truth. It should be viewed as Haring’s artistic last will and testament; a socio-political warning shot to those who would outlive him and a formal summation of his cruelly curtailed career. It is closely linked to his views on the AIDS crisis and on nuclear technology, and certainly connected to his environmental activism; it is densely packed with art-historical reference, and executed in a manner that demands the viewer’s attention.'

Untitled presents a showdown between man, nature and technology. A computer is held on top of a pyramid, like a deity on a temple altar – around it a chaotic scene of worshippers, UFOs, robots and monsters crowd the composition.

It seems fitting therefore that this work is the very first tangible work of art to be sold at a major auction house with the option of payment via cryptocurrency. The work sold at Christie’s on the 30th June 2021 for £4,301,250, and aside from the hype surrounding the sale, the work is also one of Haring’s most beloved paintings - epitomising his inimitable illustrative style.

Indeed, when this work was originally unveiled at Paul Maenz’s gallery in Cologne in 1984 – Haring’s first solo exhibition in Germany – Maenz himself was so enchanted that he bought it for his own collection. “To me, Keith’s work is magic,” the gallerist later said.