Keith Haring Inflatable Baby

Questions About Keith Haring

• What was Keith Haring known for?

  1 Answer
  1stDibs ExpertAugust 8, 2024

  Keith Haring was known for his work as an artist. He began experimenting with his bold, graphic lines and cartoon-inspired figures on the walls of New York City subway stations in the early 1980s. He called these underground places his “laboratory” to develop a radical new aesthetic based on the ideology of creating truly democratic public art. Haring used paintings, prints and murals to address the universal themes of death, love and sex, as well as contemporary issues he experienced personally, like the crack-cocaine and AIDS epidemics. These works derive much of their impact from the powerful contrast between these serious subjects and the joyful, vibrant pictographic language he used to express them, full of dancing figures, babies, barking dogs, hearts and rhythmic lines, as well as references to pop culture. To make his art even more accessible, in 1986, Haring opened the Pop Shop in Soho. In a foreshadowing of today’s intermingling of art and fashion, the shop sold merchandise and novelty items featuring his imagery. Find a collection of Keith Haring art on 1stDibs.

• How did Keith Haring become famous?

  1 Answer
  1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2022

  Keith Haring became famous largely through people viewing the street art he created in subway stations and other locations in New York City. Throughout the 1980s, he was commissioned to produce art in dozens of cities all over the world and showed his works in solo and group exhibitions. A 1982 show at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in Soho, New York City, earned rave reviews and greatly contributed to his fame. You'll find a selection of Keith Haring art on 1stDibs.