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Keith HARING
Keith Haring Pop Shop IV a (1989) screenprint
Keith Haring Pop Shop I a Best buddies (1987) screenprint
Keith Haring Pop Shop IV b (1989) screenprint
Keith Haring Andy Mouse (1986) screenprint
Keith Haring Growing (1988) screenprint
Keith Haring Pop Shop Quad I (1987) screenprint
BIOGRAPHY
Keith Haring was born in Pennsylvania on May 4, 1958. At 18, he took courses in advertising graphics in Pittsburgh. The young artist searched for himself artistically by testing several disciplines, collage, painting, installation, videos… he eventually ended up adopting drawing.
In the 1980s, he began to express himself by drawing on black New York subway billboards, with white chalk (subway drawings). During this period, he made friends with artists from the New York underground scene such as Kenny Scharf and Jean Michel Basquiat. In 1982, at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in New York, Keith Haring had his first solo exhibition. Keith Haring's ever-growing notoriety led him to collaborate with prestigious artists such as Madonna, Grace Jones, Timothy Leary,...
His paintings are part of the general contemporary art movement, not just strictly free figuration. The "Haring signature" is the infinite repetition of simple and concise shapes outlined in black with bright, illuminating colours, on different mediums. It is a permanent story where we find babies on all fours, dolphins, television sets, barking dogs, snakes, angels, dancers, asexual silhouettes, flying saucers and pyramids, but also sexuality and death. He was partly inspired by drawings from the Nazca desert. The world around him becomes beautiful because it is in his image, with the freshness of the truth and the sincerity of his art. An uncompromising art, accessible but profound, simple for children yet too complicated for adults.
The artist offers viewers of his works a vision of the world that could be described as childish and naive. Drawings of babies, dolphins, flying saucers... But also, illustrations with mystical or sexual connotations. As original, as it is atypical, he does not prepare his work in advance. His creations are done by freehand and spontaneously. In 1988, he learned that he was a carrier of the AIDS virus. In May 1989, he opened the Keith Haring Foundation, created to help children affected by HIV and organizations fighting against this disease. Keith Haring died in New York on 16 February 1990 at the age of 31.
The Class Art Biarritz gallery offers several serigraphs signed by Keith Haring.
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