Keith Haring’s Birthday
“I’d like to pretend that I’ve never seen anything, never read anything, never heard anything… and then make something…”
-Keith Haring
Renowned American artist and prominent social activist Keith Haring was born on this day in 1958.
Son of a cartoonist, he was interested in visual art from an early age. He moved to New York City at the age of 19 and first drew public attention with chalk drawings in the subways of the city. His bold lines, vivid colours, and active figures soon became his signature style.
After being diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, its mandate being to provide funding and imagery to AIDS organisations and to expand the audience for his work through exhibitions, publications and the licensing of his images. Haring enlisted his imagery during the last years of his life to speak about his own illness and generate activism and awareness about AIDS. Haring died on February 16, 1990.
