The Influences of Keith Haring
From a very early age, Keith Haring (1958-1990) developed a love of drawing. He started drawing with the help of his father and influences from the pop culture around him, Dr. Seuss and Walt Disney. He studied at the Ivy School of Professional Art, in Pittsburgh, for two semesters, but ended up dropping out because he had no interest in professional life as a commercial graphic artist. He continued to study and work on his own, and in 1978 he had his first solo exhibition of his work at the Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Crafts.
Later in the same year, he moved to New York and enrolled in the School of Visual Arts (SVA). In New York, Keith Haring found a thriving alternative art community that was developing outside the gallery and museum system. Thus, he lived with several artists, such as Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat, and musicians, performance artists. All this energy and spirit, it took Keith Haring to organize and participate in exhibitions and performances at Club 57 and other alternative venues.
In addition to being impressed by the innovation and energy of this community, Keith Haring he was also inspired by the work of Jean Dubuffet, Pierre Alechinsky, William Burroughs, Brion Gysin, and Robert Henri's manifesto, The Art Spirit, which affirmed the fundamental independence of the artist. With these influences, Keith Haring managed to push his works in a unique direction of graphic expression based on the primacy of the line and was determined to dedicate his career to the creation of truly public art. These ideas were drawn to the public and participatory nature of Christo's work, in particular Running Fence, and the unique fusion of art and life by Andy Warhol.
Public Art of Keith Haring
In 1980, Keith Haring he found an effective means of communication that allowed him to demonstrate the message he wanted to a wider audience, the advertising panels that were not being used in metro stations. Between 1980 and 1985, he produced hundreds of public drawings in fast rhythmic lines that would become familiar to New York travelers. In the same decade, he achieved international recognition and participated in numerous collective and individual exhibitions. His first solo exhibition in New York was held at the Westbeth Painters Space in 1981. The following year he exhibited at Soho gallery with a highly acclaimed solo show at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. During this period, he also participated in famous international exhibitions, such as Documenta 7 in Kassel, the São Paulo Biennial and the Whitney Biennial. He has also undertaken numerous public projects, from an animation for the Spectacoloroutdoor in Times Square, designed sets for theaters and clubs, the design of watches for Swatch and an advertising campaign for Absolut vodka.
In April 1986, he opened a Pop Shop in Soho, where he sold sweaters, toys, posters, and magnets with his drawings. The store received criticism from the art world, however, the American artist continued to make his artworks available to all types of audiences. Throughout your career, Keith Haring devoted much of his time to public works, which often carried social messages. Between 1982 and 1989, he produced more than 50 public works, in dozens of cities around the world, many of which were created for charities, hospitals, kindergartens and orphanages. Other projects include, a mural created for the 100th anniversary of the Statue of Liberty in 1986, in which Keith Haring worked with 900 children; a mural outside the Necker Children's Hospital in Paris, France, in 1987; and a mural painted on the western side of the Berlin Wall three years before its fall. Keith Haring he has also conducted drawing workshops for children in schools and museums in New York, Amsterdam, London, Tokyo and Bordeaux, and has produced images for many literacy programs and other public service campaigns.
The AIDS Information Campaign (AIDS)
In 1988, Keith Haring was diagnosed with AIDS, therefore, the following year, he established the Foundation Keith Haring, which provides funding and imagery for AIDS organizations and children's programs, and expands the public work of Keith Haring, through exhibitions, publications and licensing of their images. During the last few years of her life, she created public artwork about the disease and generated AIDS activism and awareness. Keith Haring died of AIDS-related complications at age 31 on February 16, 1990. A memorial service was held on May 4, 1990 at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City with over 1,000 people in attendance.
The Career Intensity Keith Haring
During his brief but intense career in the 1980s, the work of Keith Haring has been featured in over 100 individual and group exhibitions. In 1986 alone, it was the subject of more than 40 newspaper and magazine articles. In addition, he was intensely sought after to participate in projects with artists as diverse as Madonna, Grace Jones, Bill T. Jones, William Burroughs, Timothy Leary, Jenny Holzer, Yoko Ono and Andy Warhol. By expressing universal concepts of birth, death, love, sex and war, with the primacy of the line and the directness of the message, Keith Haring was able to attract a wide audience and ensure the accessibility and staying power of his images, which have become universally recognized in the visual language of the 20th century. Since his death, Keith Haring he has been the subject of several international retrospectives and his works can be seen in museums around the world.
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