Keith Haring was born May 4th, 1958 and is widely known for his graffiti art, and paintings relating to social issues in and around the New York City area. Starting his career in subways with only chalk as his medium, Haring's artwork had become more and more popular, being featured in public murals and museums around the world. Haring was intensely interested in the cartoon art of Walt Disney and Charles Schultz, inspiring him to create the cartoon-like art that he is known for today. After high school, Haring attended the Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, and later, the School of Visual Arts in New York City, 1978. Once in New York, Haring turned to graffiti art, adding small figures to where ever he would see fit; he would often draw small dancing figures, barking dogs, large hearts, and figures with televisions for heads along the subway station walls with white chalk.
Haring's art had many key ideas behind them, including, life, death, love, social harmony, and social awareness. He was a social activist for AIDS awareness, a disease that later led to his death on February 16th, 1990 at age 31.
What really interests me about Haring's work is that with some of his more simpler works, it gives people an idea of "I could have done that" or "They're just human figures". To me, its what he used his art work for, to promote his opinions and raise social awareness for topics like AIDS. It was the activism and perseverance of Keith Haring through his diagnosis of AIDS that interests me the most. Even in the last few years of his life, Haring was still inspired to make more and more art and raise more awareness for the things that he was actively a part of.
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