

While his works sometimes included text, for the most part, he chose to communicate through drawing. In a foreshadowing of today’s intermingling of art and fashion, the shop sold merchandise and novelty items featuring imagery by Haring and contemporaries like Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat. The collection features three styles that pay homage to the most famous mouse in the world and starts at 100. To make his art even more accessible, in 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop in Soho. The new line of Swatch watches is a result of collab between Disney and the Keith Haring Studio, which first began in 1986. And now New York artist Keith Haring’s take on Mickey is available on a Swatch.
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They derive much of their impact from the powerful contrast between these serious subjects and the joyful, vibrant pictographic language he uses to express them, full of dancing figures, babies, barking dogs, hearts and rhythmic lines, as well as references to pop culture. The second time Swatch entered and then stayed in my mind as a collector proposition, was the 200-piece collection that Phillips sold in 2019. Haring’s paintings, prints and murals address the universal themes of death, love and sex, as well as contemporary issues he experienced personally, like the crack-cocaine and AIDS epidemics.

He called them his “laboratory,” places to develop a radical new aesthetic based on an ideology of creating truly democratic public art. If you're a Haring lover or a curious art lover, this book is a worthwhile contribution to your library.Keith Haring began experimenting with his bold, graphic lines and cartoon-inspired figures on the walls of New York City subway stations in the early 1980s. However, with some of the more complicated or abstract-looking pieces, it is nice to have the author there to act as a guide. The viewer is meant to place their own opinions on the work and come to an understanding on their own.

Haring was adamant that his job was to produce work that was accessible to many.

The author not only documents Haring's life, but allows the reader insight into some of the pieces. This particular anniversary edition is lovely because the book has been enlarged and it allows the reader to get a clear look at the work to decipher some of his more complicated pieces. This introduction to the artist, from the wonderful people at Taschen, is a worthwhile addition to any art lover's library. His work on the sexual-phobias that erupted from the AIDS epidemic is provocative and relevant still today. Belying their bright, playful aesthetics, his pieces often tackled intensely controversial socio-political issues, including racism, capitalism, religious fundamentalism, and the increasing impact of AIDS on New York’s gay community, the latter foreshadowing his own death from the disease in 1990.In this vivid introduction to Haring’s work, we explore the dynamic life and innovative spirit of this singular artist, who spent little more than a decade in the spotlight, but through the accessibility of his visual vocabulary and the strength of his political commitment became one of the most significant artists to emerge from New York’s vibrant, downtown community.Īs an artist, Keith Haring has probably had the most influence on my work. With thick black outlines, bright colors, and kinetic figures, his public (and occasionally illegal) interventions, sculptures, and works on canvas and paper have become instantly recognizable icons of 20th-century visual culture.From his first chalk drawings in the New York City subway stations, to his renowned “Radiant Baby” symbol, and his commissions for Swatch Watch and Absolut Vodka, Haring’s work was both emblematic of the manic work ethic of 1980s New York, yet distinctive for its social awareness. One of the key figures in the New York art world of the 1980s, Keith Haring (1958–1990) created a signature style that blended street art, graffiti, a Pop sensibility, and cartoon elements to unique, memorable effect.
