About Keith Haring

Keith Allen Haring was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. 

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.

His animated imagery has "become a widely recognized visual language".

Since his death, has been featured in over 150 exhibitions around the world.

• Haring combines the appeal of cartoons with the raw energy of Art Brut artists, developing a distinct pop-graffiti aesthetic centered on fluid, bold outlines against a dense, rhythmic overspread of imagery.
• Much of his work includes sexual allusions that turned into social activism by using the images to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness.
• Haring is regarded as a leading figure in New York East Village Art scene in the 1970s and '80s.