Keith Haring
Keith Haring was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, and was raised in nearby Kutztown, Pennsylvania. Having rejected a path to becoming a commercial designer, he moved to New York City and enrolled in the School of Visual Arts (SVA). In New York, he found a vibrant art community. His practice emphasised the use of line but was also influenced by the public and participatory nature of Christo’s work, and the unique fusion of art and life in the work of Andy Warhol. In the 1980s, Haring used the blank advertising spaces in the New York subway system as a laboratory for a public drawing practice, drawing hundreds of compositions in chalk. In 1982, he made a popular and highly acclaimed one-man exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery, Soho. He also participated in Documenta 7 in Kassel; the São Paulo Biennial; and the Whitney Biennial. Haring opened the Pop Shop, a retail store in Soho selling T-shirts, toys, posters, buttons and magnets bearing his images. Haring considered the shop to be an extension of his work and painted the entire interior of the store in an abstract black on white mural, creating a striking and unique retail environment. Keith Haring died of AIDS related complications at the age of 31 in 1990. www.whytes.ie