Keith Haring is an artist famous for his abstracted, colorful figures that can be seen all over t-shirts nowadays. Much of his work addressed the AIDS epidemic in the 1980’s and advocated for safe sex. Whenever I see his work, I am always reminded of this video in which he draws his classic figures on the walls of subway stations, comfortable with the knowledge that he may be arrested for doing so.
In many ways, the piece feels like a public performance work, as he wishes to spread his images and is willing to confront the consequences of doing so. While the image itself is the art he is physically making, the act of spreading his images in the subway, a public space that all of New York City passes through, has a performative aspect to it, for he wishes to spread awareness of the issues he is addressing.
1 Comment
Samantha Powers · December 4, 2020 at 2:39 pm
I love Keith, his use of colors and how he does his people shapes is just fun to look at. I don’t know if I’m older and more observant now, but his artwork has been collab-ed with the most with brands, next to Disney I’d say. I’ve seen his artwork at Urban Outfitters, Uniqlo, Target, Zara, etc. I first learned about Keith in high school from a complimentary mural artwork we had for him.
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