Keith Haring
Biography
Known for his illustrative figures and symbols, Keith Haring was an American artist and social activist. Diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1988, Haring’s prodigious career was brief, and he died of AIDS-related complications on February 16, 1990 at the age of 31. Before his death, Haring established the Keith Haring Foundation, a non-profit committed to raising awareness of the illness through art programing and community outreach.
Harinq was described as a Neo-Pop and Graffiti artist, he had a vision to unite “high art,” urban aesthetics, and public spaces using humorous, irreverent, and poignant imagery. In the 1980s he produced several publics works, attracting the attention of the New York Galleries.
Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 in downtown New York, selling commercial items adorned with his signature, cartoonish imagery. Haring combined graffiti, hip-hop, and urban aesthetics, frequently depicting animals, figures, commercial icons, sexual imagery, and childlike motifs in pieces that playful but contained serious social issue messaging.
Haring enlisted his imagery during the last years of his life to speak about his own illness and generate activism and awareness about AIDS.
The artist’s mural Crack is Wack (1986), can still be seen today on a retaining wall along FDR Drive in Manhattan. Haring’s works can be found in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.
Born: 1958
Died: 1990
Education: Ivy School of Professional Art in Pittsburgh, School of Visual Arts (SVA), New York
Exhibitions
Select Exhibitions
2022
A Radiant Legacy, MICHENER ART MUSEUM DOYLESTOWN | PENNSYLVANIA | USA
Confrontation: Keith Haring and Pierre Alechinsky – NSU Art Museum, Fort Lauderdale, NSU ART MUSEUM, FORT LAUDERDALE FT. LAUDERDALE | FLORIDA | USA
2021
Art in Action – Opera Gallery, Miami OPERA GALLERY, MIAMI DOWNTOWN MIAMI | MIAMI | FLORIDA | USA
Keith Haring – Palazzo Blu PALAZZO BLU PISA | ITALY
Radiant Vision – Naples Art Association NAPLES ART ASSOCIATION NAPLES | FLORIDA | USA
World Premiere: Yog Raj Chitrakar: Memory Drawing IX screening and discussion with Eungie Joo, Keith Haring Director and Curator of Education and Public Programs – New Museum, New York NEW MUSEUM, NEW YORK LOWER EAST SIDE | NEW YORK | USA
2013
Keith Haring – The Political Line – Musée d´Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris – MAM/ARC, Paris
Bronx Lab – Style Wars – Bronx Museum of the Arts (BxMA), New York City, NY
Keith Haring – Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris
Pop Art Accrochage, Fluegel-Roncak Gallery, Nuremberg, Germany
Liebe Ist Kälter Als Das Kapital – Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz
Banners – Galerie Gmurzynska – Zürich, Zurich
Print – Woodward Gallery, New York City, NY
2012
Keith Haring: 1978-1982, The Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York (solo)
Keith Haring, Galeria de Art del Centro de Extension de la Pontifica Universidad Catholica de Chile, Santiago, Chile (solo)
Keith Haring Blueprints, Pace Prints Chelsea, New York, New York (solo)
Vitrine Rotation, New York Historical Society, New York, New York (solo)
Murale di Milwaukee, Sala dei Porti, nel percorso di visita degli Appartamenti settecenteschi di Palazzo Reale , Caserta, Italy (solo)
2011
Keith Haring 1978-1982, Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati, Ohio (solo)
The Hieroglyphics of Keith Haring, Musee en Herbe, Paris, France (solo)
Keith Haring, Gladstone Gallery, New York, New York (solo)
Keith Haring, Pace Prints, New York, New York( solo)
Keith Haring: Subway Drawings, Arcadia University, Glenside, Pennsylvania (solo)
2010
A New Dimension, Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, New Jersey (solo)
Haring, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Austria (solo)
The Keith Haring Show, SOMA Museum of Arts, Seoul, Korea (solo)
Haring: 20th Anniversary, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, New York (solo)
KEITH HARING, Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York, New York (solo)
Editions on Paper, Caixa Cultural, Sao Paulo, Brazil (solo)
Editions on Paper, Caixa Cultural, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (solo)
Haring: Pop Art Superstar, Lotte Art Center, Busan, South Korea (solo)
Haring: Pop Art Superstar, Sangrok Museum Gwangju Museum of Art, Gwangju, South Korea (solo)
Institut d’Art Contemporain in Villeurbanne, Villeurbanne, France (solo)
2009
Haring, Bentley Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ (solo)
Haring, Vecchiato Gallery, Milan, Italy (solo)
Haring, Vecchiato Gallery, Padua, Italy (solo)
The Keith Haring Show, Musee des Beaux-Arts, Mons, Belgium (solo)
Haring, Kunsthalle Weishaupt, Ulm, Germany (solo)
2008
Haring Retrospective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Lyon, France; Ludwigmuseum, Budapest, Hungary (solo)
Haring – Drawings, Paintings and Sculptures, Skarstedt Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Haring Houston Street & Bowery Mural recreation, Deitch Projects, New York, NY (solo)
The Ten Commandments, Deitch Projects, New York, NY
Against All Odds: Keith Haring in the Rubell Family Collection, Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA (solo)
Haring, Two Sculptures, UNAIDS, Geneva, Switzerland (solo)
2007
Haring: Editions on Paper, Egon Schiele Centrum, Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic (solo)
Haring: The Living Line, Ludwigmuseum, Koblenz, Germany (solo)
Haring: Works from the Navarra Collection, Galerie de lIndependence and Parc Heintz Fondation, Dexia, Luxembourg (solo)
Complete Editions on Paper, Fundacion Caixa Galicia, Ferrol, Spain (solo)
Haring: The Milwaukee Mural, Serrone della Villa Reale, Monza, Italy (solo)
Haring – Untitled (Acrobats), 1986, Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY (solo)
2006
Haring: Journey of the Radiant Baby, Reading Public Museum, Reading, PA (solo)
Editions on Paper, University of Valencia, Valencia, Spain (solo)
Haring: Art and Commerce, Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL (solo)
Haring: POP Haring – Symbols and Icons Editions on paper from the Estate of Keith Haring, Singapore Tyler Print Institute, Singapore (solo)
Haring: Paintings, Sculpture, Objects and Drawings, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Against All Odds, Rubell Family Collection, Miami, Florida (solo)
Complete Editions on Paper, Centro Cultural Montehermoso Depsito de Aguas, Vitoria, Spain (solo)
Haring: Monumental Sculptures, Poppy & Pierre Salinger Foundation, Le Thor, France (solo)
Mass Production: Artists’ Multiples and the Marketplace, Emily Davis Gallery of Myers School of Art, The University of Akron, Akron, OH
Haring Drawings, Alona Kagan Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Haring – Early Drawings, Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, UK (solo)
Haring, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Paris, France (solo)
Selected Editions on Paper, Memo Gallery, Budapest, Hungary (solo)
2005
Haring, Alpen-Adria Galerie, Klagenfurt, Austria (solo)
Haring, Ben Brown Fine Arts, London, UK (solo)
Haring, Galleria Salvatore Ala, Milan, Italy (solo)
Haring: Urban Memory, Fundacion ICO, Madrid, Spain (solo)
Five Keith Haring Sculptures, Somerset House, London, UK (solo)
Three Keith Haring Sculptures, Lever House, New York, NY (solo)
Keith Haring: Coloring Book Drawings, Briggs-Robinson Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
L’Art a la Plage #4: Keith Haring, Galerie Enrico Navarra in cooperation with Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, St Tropez, France (solo)
Haring – Sculptures, Deitch Projects, New York, NY (solo)
The Keith Haring Show, The Trienniale of Milan, Italy (solo)
2004
Haring, Centro Cultural Banco do Brasil, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (solo)
Haring, Culturgest, Lisbon, Portugal (solo)
Haring, Alte Rathaus, Prien am Chiemsee, Germany (solo)
The Characters of Keith Haring, Children’s Museum of the Arts, New York, NY (solo)
Photos from the Archives: the Artist at Work, Pop Shop, New York, NY (solo)
Alona Kagan Gallery, New York, New York (solo)
Keith Haring: New Wave Aztec, The Sackler Center for Arts Education, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY (solo)
2003
Pop Figuration, Deitch Projects, New York, NY and Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Four Sculptures, American Academy, Rome, Italy (solo)
Two Sculptures, Parco della Musica, Rome, Italy (solo)
Haring Drawings, Culturgest, Porto, Portugal (solo)
Haring Drawings, Kagan-Martos Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Keith Haring, Centro Cutural Banco do Brasil, Sao Paulo; CCBB, Brasilia, Brazil (solo)
Keith Haring: Short Message, Posters 1982-1990, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe, Hamburg; Kunstmuseum Heidenheim; Kunsthaus Kaufbeuren, Germany (solo)
2002
Arario Gallery, Seoul, South Korea (solo)
Sex Show, Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris, France (solo)
Haring: Heaven and Hell, Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam, Netherlands (solo)
Haring: Tarps, Van de Weghe Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Haring: Short Message. Posters 1982-1990, Versicherungskammer Bayern, Munich, Germany (solo)
2001
Keith Haring Sculptures, Rome, Italy (solo)
The 10 Commandments, Wapping Power Station, London, UK; Castello Ursino, Catania, Sicily, Italy (solo)
Haring: Heaven and Hell, Museum fur Neue Kunst/ZKM, Karlsruhe, Germany; National Gallery of the Cayman Islands, Georgetown, Grand Cayman (solo)
Paradise Garage, Deitch Projects, New York, NY (solo)
Haring, Amos Anderson Museum, Helsinki, Finland (solo)
Haring: Sculptures on the Kurfürstendamm, Berlin Ludwig Forum, Aachen, Germany; Chiostro del Bramante, Rome, Italy (solo)
Haring Sculptures, Rome, Italy
1999
Haring, Eki Museum, Kyoto; Kurashiki City Museum, Kurashiki; Iwaki City Museum, Iwaki; Isetan Museum, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Haring Sculptures, Pacific Design Center, Los Angeles, CA; Museum of Science and Industry, Chicago, IL (solo)
Haring: A Retrospective, City Gallery, Wellington, New Zealand; Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Paris, France (solo)
Haring, Musee Maillol, Paris, France (solo)
Haring, Katonah Art Museum, Katonah, NY(solo)
Haring, Peter Gwyther Gallery, London, UK (solo)
Haring, Casino Knokke, Knokke, Belgium (solo)
Haring, Museum of Contemporary Art, Scottsdale, AR (solo)
Haring, Deitch Projects, New York, NY (solo)
Haring in Pisa, Palazzo Lanfranchi, Pisa, Italy (solo)
1998
Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden (solo)
Wetterling Teo Gallery, Singapore (solo)
Haring: A Retrospective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA; Musee des Beaux-Arts, Montreal, Canada (solo)
Complete Editions on Paper, Museum Moderner Kunst, Passau, Germany; Quartier 206, Berlin, Germany; Dorothy Blau Gallery, Miami, FL (solo)
Haring in San Francisco, Installation of 10 sculptures in San Francisco, sponsored by the San Francisco Art Commission, San Francisco, CA (solo)
Haring in West Hollywood, Installation of 10 sculptures along the Santa Monica Boulevard median, West Hollywood, CA (solo)
Tasende Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1997
Haring: A Retrospective, The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY; Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Canada (solo)
Haring on Park Avenue, Installation of 13 sculptures on the Park Avenue Malls between 53rd and 74th Streets, sponsored by the Public Art Fund, New York, NY (solo)
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Seagram Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Keith Haring: Blurred Boundaries, Lobby Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1996
Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Complete Editions on Paper, Museum Bochum, Leipzig, Germany; Museum der Bildenden, Leipzig, Germany (solo)
The 10 Commandments, Bruderkirche and Museum Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany; Dorothy Blau, Miami, FL (solo)
Keith Haring: A Retrospective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney, Australia (solo)
1995
Haring Altarpiece, Palo Alto Cultural Center, Palo Alto, CA; Museum of Contemporary Religious Art, St. Louis, MO (solo)
Haring: A Retrospective, Fundacion La Caixa, Madrid, Spain; Kunsthaus Wien, Vienna, Austria (solo)
Haring: Works on Paper 1989, Andre Emmerich Gallery, New York, NY; Hans Mayer Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany; Galerie Krinzinger, Vienna, Austria (solo)
Keith Haring: Family and Friends Collect, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA (solo)
1994
Keith Haring, curated by Germano Celant, Castellodi Rivoli, Turin, Italy; Malmo Konsthall, Malmo, Sweden; Deichtorhallen, Hamburg, Germany; Tel Aviv Museum, Tel Aviv, Israe (solo)
Complete Editions on Paper, Hiroshima; Osaka; Nagoya; Tokyo and Fukuoka, Japan (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1993
Queens Museum, Queens, New York, NY (solo)
DIA Art Foundation, Bridgehampton, New York, NY (solo)
Complete Editions on Paper, Galerie Littmann, Basel, Switzerland; Galerie der Stadt, Stuttgart, Germany; Aktionsforum, Munich, Germany (solo)
Keith Haring: A Retrospective, Mitsukoshi Museum of Art, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Galerie Nikolaus Sonne, Berlin, Germany (solo)
Musee de Louvain-la-Neuve, Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium (solo)
Michael Fuchs Gallery, Berlin, Germany (solo)
1992
Gallery 56, Budapest, Hungary (solo)
Tabula Gallery, Tubingen, Germany (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1991
Hete Hunermann Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany (solo)
Keith Haring: Future Primeval, University Galleries, Normal, IL; Tampa Museum of Art, Tampa, FL; Museum of Modern Art, Ostend, Belgium (solo)
Haring, Disney, Warhol, Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ; Tacoma Art Museum, Tacoma, Washington; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C; Worcester Art Museum, Worcester, MA
Dante Park, Lincoln Center, New York, NY(solo)
Chase Manhattan Bank, Soho Branch, New York, NY(solo)
Erika Meyerovich Gallery, San Francisco, CA (solo)
Molinar Gallery, Scottsdale, AZ (solo)
Steffanoni Gallery, Milan, Italy (solo)
1990
Galerie La Poche, Paris, France (solo)
Charles Lucien Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Philip Samuels Fine Art, St. Louis, MO (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Keith Haring: Future Primeval, Queens Museum, Queens, New York, NY (solo)
Galerie Nikolaus Sonne, Berlin, Germany (solo)
Richard Nadeau Gallery, Philadelphia, PA (solo)
Gallery 56, Geneva, Switzerland (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1989
Gallery 121, Antwerp (solo)
Casa Sin Nombre, Santa Fe, New Mexico(solo)
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GE (solo)
Galerie Hete Hunermann, Dusseldorf, Germany (solo)
1988
Michael Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (solo)
Hans Mayer Gallery, Dusseldorf, Germany (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Hokin Gallery, Bay Harbor Islands, FL (solo)
1987
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Galerie Kaj Forsblom, Helsinki, Finland (solo)
Gallery 121, Antwerp, Belgium (solo)
Casino Knokke, Knokke, Belgium (solo)
Kutztown New Arts Program, Kutztown, PA (solo)
Galerie Rivolta, Lausanne, Switzerland (solo)
1986
Art in the Park, Whitney Museum of American Art, Stamford, CT (solo)
Dag Hammarskjold Plaza Sculpture Garden, New York, NY (solo)
Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France (solo)
Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands (solo)
1985
Schellmann & Kluser, Munich, West Germany (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Leo Castelli Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Museum of Contemporary Art, Bordeaux, France (solo)
1984
University Museum of Iowa City, Iowa City, IA (solo)
Paul Maenz Gallery, Cologne, West Germany (solo)
Paradise Garage, New York, NY (solo)
Galerie Corinne Hummel, Basel, Switzerland (solo)
Semaphore East, New York, NY (solo)
“Keith Haring: Milan 1984” with LA II, Salvatore Ala Gallery, Milan, Italy
1983
Fun Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Galerie Watari, Tokyo, Japan (solo)
Lucio Amelio Gallery, Naples, Italy (solo)
Robert Fraser Gallery, London, UK (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Matrix 75, Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT (solo)
1982
Rotterdam Arts Council, Rotterdam, Netherlands (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1981
Hal Bromm Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
1980
Westbeth Painters Space, New York, NY (solo)
P.S. 122, New York, NY (solo)
Club 57, New York, NY (solo)
1978
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, Pittsburgh, PA (solo)