Keith Haring

Keith Haring was born in PA in 1958. He liked drawing and cartooning as a young child and after high school he went to a commercial graphic arts school in Pittsburg. After two semesters he left and went to SVA in New York. In 1980 he noticed unused advertising panels in subway stations and began to draw on them with chalk. He made more than 50 public artworks between 1982 and 1989. He created a mural for the 100th anniversary of the statue of liberty along with 900 children. In 1988 he was diagnosed with AIDS. He used his art in the last years of his life to generate activism and awareness about aids. In 1986 he opened the pop shop where he sold merchandise with his art printed on it. He died in 1990 of AIDS related complications.