Keith Haring Biography

• He was inspired to

draw by his Dad,

Walt Disney cartoons,

and “Peanuts” cartoons by

Charles Shultz.

• Born May 4, 1958 in Pennsylvania.

• He moved to New York City in 1978.

• Haring found inspiration in graffiti art.

• He began his “subway” drawings in 1980.

• The people of New York City who rode the subways were puzzled by the appearance of these strange drawings.

• “Every two weeks or so I’d add new elements to the drawings,” said Keith, “Often I’d do thirty or forty drawings in one day.”

• At first, no one knew who was doing the subway drawings because Haring did not sign his name to his artworks.

• Instead he would often use a picture or symbol as a signature.

signature

• As people began to recognize Haring and his artwork, he was catapulted into fame very quickly.

• The simple style and accessibility of his artwork

meant it

appealed to a

wide variety

of people.

• Soon his artwork was immediately recognizable to thousands of people around the

world.

• He became an

in-demand artist

and was asked to

create artworks

all over the world.

• During the time Haring was enjoying his rise to fame in the art world, he lost a number of friends to AIDS, a new and little known disease at the time.

• He became involved in activism campaigns to raise awareness of this fatal disease through his art.

• Toward the end of 1988, he noticed a purple spot on his leg, a sign of an AIDS related cancer called Kaposi’s sarcoma.

• His doctors confirmed that he too, like many of his friends, had AIDS.

• Keith Haring died on February 16, 1990 of AIDS related complications.

• He was 31 years old.

• Although he died more than 25 years ago, Keith Haring’s memory is still very much alive today.

• His work continues to be exhibited in dozens of countries and many are owned by museums around the world.

• Recently, in March 2011, some of his artwork was featured on the world’s largest jigsaw puzzle.

• The puzzle contains 32,256 pieces and measures 17 feet by 6 inches.

• It weighs 42 pounds, costs $300, and takes about 400 hours to do.

For more information about Keith Haring go to

www.haringkids.com