Keith Haring

KEITH HARING (Pennsylvania, 1958- New York, 1990).
"Crack Down!", 1986.
Lithograph-offset.
Edition of 2000 copies.
Signed on plate, titled and dated.
Measurements: 56 x 43 cm.

Considered as the visible head of urban art in the eighties, Haring's unstoppable professional career began with his work in the New York subway. The enormous popularity of Haring's urban work among the people of New York immediately caught the attention of the art system. Consequently, Andy Warhol adopted him into his circle, and the then emerging gallerist Tony Shafrazi organized a major solo exhibition for him in 1982 that was to be the launching pad for his unstoppable success. He soon exhibited his work at the gallery of the influential Leo Castelli and established himself as a professional art star. Today Haring's work is divided between major private and public collections, including the Museum of Modern Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; the Art Institute of Chicago; the Bass Museum in Miami; Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Ludwig Museum in Cologne; and the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. He also created a wide variety of public works, including the infirmary at Children's Village in Dobbs Ferry, New Yorkand the second-floor men's room at Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center in Manhattan, which was later transformed into an office and is known as the Keith Haring Room. In January 2019, an exhibition called "Keith Haring New York" opened at New York Law School in the main building of its Tribeca campus.