Keith Haring

Keith Haring (1958 -1990) is widely recognised for his colourful n paintings, drawings, sculptures and murals. Haring exploded onto the n early 1980s New York art scene with his vivid graffiti-inspired drawings, n many of which found exposure in the public realm, such as the Times n Square billboard broadcast of his famous Radiant Child in 1982. n Haring's instantly recognisable `cartoon-like' imagery not only drew on n the iconography of contemporary pop and club culture but also looked n back to the patterns and rhythms of Islamic and Japanese art, and n primitive wall-paintings,. Furthermore his work also reflected a profound n commitment to social justice and activism, and raised numerous n issues that remain relevant today, including the AIDS crisis, the Cold n War and fear of nuclear attack, racism, the excesses of capitalism and n environmental degradation. n Featuring around fifty works supported by rarely seen photography, n film and archival documents from the Keith Haring Foundation, this n accessible book will not only introduce Haring to a new audience but n also throw fresh light on an artist whose work remains symptomatic of n the subcultural and creative energy of 1980s New York. n Three short texts exploring various aspects of Haring's practice n will be interspersed with illustrations of his works and a rolling time-line n featuring key social and political events of the 1980s (from the election n of Reagan in 1980 and the explosion of hip hop from underground n movement to global phenomenon to the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989) n and Haring's responses to them. The publication also aims to include n select and unpublished reminiscences from those who collaborated n and interacted with Haring, including performers such as Madonna and n Grace Jones and artists Jenny Holzer and Yoko Ono. n