Keith Allen Haring (1958–1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. His animated imagery has become a widely recognized visual language. Much of his work includes sexual allusions that turned into social activism by using the images to advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness. Haring’s popularity grew from his spontaneous drawings in New York City subways—chalk outlines of figures, dogs, and other stylized images on blank black advertising-space backgrounds.
After public recognition, he created larger scale murals, such as Crack is Wack (1986) on FDR Drive in Manhattan. His later work often addressed political and social themes—especially homosexuality and the AIDS epidemic—through his own unique iconography. Haring was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1988. In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organizations and children’s programs, and to expand the audience for his work through exhibitions, publications and the licensing of his images.
Haring died on February 16, 1990, of AIDS-related complications. He has been the subject of several retrospectives and his work is in the collections of major museums such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Art Institute of Chicago. His work continues to be highly influential in the worlds of art, fashion, and design.