Keith HARING (1958-1990)

Keith Haring was born in 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania and quickly moved to New York. Fascinated by graffiti, he expressed himself with chalk in urban spaces and took part in several exhibitions and performances at Club 57 - the “Place to be seen” in the New York art scene of the 1980s - where he befriended Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. In 1982, his first solo exhibition was held at the Tony Shafrazi gallery. His growing notoriety led him to collaborate with prestigious artists like Madonna or Grace Jones. Behind the apparent carelessness of his drawings, Haring denounces the racial and sexual prejudices of which the underprivileged classes are victims.

His characteristic frescoes, spontaneously drawn freehand, quickly cover the walls of many cities around the world. In 1988, he learned that he was a carrier of the AIDS virus and then engaged in another struggle through art, pledging to raise funds to fight this pandemic. He opened the Keith Haring Foundation in 1989 before passing away in 1990, leaving behind a remarkable and original body of work.