- He was born on May 4, 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania.
- He developed a love for art at an early age and had his father teach him basic cartooning skills.
- He graduated from high school on 1978 and enrolled in the Ivy school of professional art in Pittsburgh, which he then later dropped out because he decided he didn’t want to become a commercial graphic artist.
- Later that year, he had an exhibit of his artwork at the Pittsburgh arts & crafts center. Pittsburg was where he took notice of artist that did similar drawings like his. These artists were doing similar figures and shapes. Artists such as Dubuffet and Pierre Alechinsky had similar images in Haring’s art.
- Later that same year of 1978, he moved to NY where he met a couple of artists that inspired and helped him throughout his career. Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat is who he was mostly close with.
- Between 1980 and 1989, Haring achieved international recognition and participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. His first solo exhibition in NY was held at the Westbeth Painters Space in 1981.
- Around the year 1988 was when he was first was diagnosed with AIDS related illnesses. At the age of 31, Haring died of AIDS on February 16, 1990.
- In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation to raise funds to the AIDS organizations and children's hospitals.
One of
his most famous pieces is the “Radiant Baby”. You will see this in most of his
artwork. The “Radiant Baby” signifies Jesus Christ and this was brought up by
his influence in the Jesus Movement
in the 1970s.
New york
city in 1978 was at the peak of graffiti art. When Haring moved here, immediately he was intrigued and
fascinated with Graffiti. He wanted a way to connect his art with the people.
He wanted people to have something to look at and have a connection with. Later
the subway became a media thing and Haring was associated with New York and the
hip-hop scene. Often he would do thirty to forty of these drawings in one day. These were his first recognized pieces of pop art.
