“Individuality is the enemy of this mass society. Individuality speaks for the individual and makes him a significant factor. Art is individuality.”
TRQ: Keith Haring, Died February 16, 1990
Artist and gay activist Keith Haring, originator of an instantly recognisable visual language blending pop art, cartoon and graffiti, was born and raised in Pennsylvania. Inspired by Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney to draw as a child, Haring learned basic cartooning skills from his father.
Haring attended two semesters of a graphic arts programme at the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, before dropping out and moving to New York City. There he attended the School of Visual Arts (SVA), and found a community of artists thriving downtown in the streets, subways, clubs and dancehalls, away from the lucrative gallery and museum establishment.
Legendary today, Haring’s social circle included Madonna, Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf as well as other performance artists, and graffiti writers. Over the courses of ten years, Haring earned international recognition through his many group and solo exhibitions, beginning with his solo exhibit at the Westbeth Painters Space in 1981. In 1982, Haring’s solo exhibit at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery earned the artist new levels of popularity and critical acclaim.
During the 1980’s Haring balanced being an LGBT activist with advocating literacy for children. Haring would produce work advocating for safe sex, AIDS awareness and HIV research, and while also conducting drawing workshops for children in schools and museums around the world. Art was Haring’s mode of social consciousness and responsibility.
“Ignorance = Fear” and “Silence = Death” are slogans written into some of Haring’s most impactful work, boxing in figures death-marked with X’s over their torsos, blinded by the hands over their eyes, deafened by the hands over their ears, and muted by the hands over their mouths.
His direct approach through a bold simplicity of line allowed Haring to express themes of birth, death, love, sex and war in a way that attracted a wide audience, giving his work nearly unparalleled relevance and endurance. Consequently, Haring was sought after for high-profile collaborations with well-known artists, including not only Madonna and Warhol, but also Grace Jones, William Burroughs, Yoko Ono and Bill T. Jones.
In 1988, Haring himself was diagnosed with AIDS. In 1989 he established the Keith Haring Foundation. Haring tasked the foundation with continuing his advocacy for LGBT rights and children’s literacy, as well as expanding the audience for his work through exhibitions, publication, and licensing.
Haring continued to use his imagery to speak about his own illness, and to generate AIDS activism and awareness. Part antidote to the anxiety and fear within the gay community, part rebuke against condemnation from the mainstream, Haring’s work continued to celebrate gay sex. In “Once Upon a time,” Haring depicts a “vision of a world before AIDS — a celebration of gay male sexuality and resiliency at a time when mainstream America was quite terrified of gay male sexuality.”
At the young age of 31, Keith Haring died of AIDS-related complications on February 16, 1990.
Sources:
