Keith Haring Person

Illustration of a red person on a white background

“Dancing Figure” is a reoccurring style of a person in Keith Haring’s art. Keith Haring was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, on May 4th, 1958. He loved drawing from an early age and went to the School of Visual Arts in New York where he found an alternative art community. From 1980 to 1985, Haring did a lot of his work in the subways of New York. Many commuters admired his work as he experimented and honed his craft. A lot of his work was set in public. The Crack is Wack mural on FDR Drive is one of his most famous works. He painted a mural on the Berlin wall in 1986. 

He held his first exhibition in 1981 at the Westbeth Painters Space. He gained popularity in 1982 at his exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. The Pop Shop opened in April 1986 where items with his art were sold. It let people have access to his work at a low cost. This was not the norm at the time and Haring received some criticism for it. He ignored it and kept the shop running. 

In 1989, Haring created the Keith Haring Foundation in response to his diagnosis with AIDS a year prior. The purpose was to, “provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children’s programs, and to expand the audience for Haring’s work through exhibitions, publications and the licensing of his images”. He died in 1990.