Keith Haring’s art work was bold and graphical and has become a widely recognized visual language of the 20th century. His art made a statement and he became a sensation in the art world with his bold, cartoon style and graffiti influenced works. He created the art form of classic graffiti and brought recognition to street art. However his art was so much more than graffiti. He used his own work to highlight issues in New York and his own life. It was bold, vivid and expressive with roots in cartooning and graphic design. It’s not wonder though since his dad was a cartoonist, he inherited his unique style and talent.

Keith Grew up in Kutztown, Pennsylvania and spent many hours drawing with his father. Haring was fascinated by the popular cartoon art of Walt Disney and Charles Schultz. Haring was interested in art from an early age. From 1976 to 1978 he studied commercial art at The Ivy School of Professional Art, an art school in Pittsburgh. He soon lost interest in commercial art and moved on to study Fine Arts.

At age 19, in 1978, Haring moved to New York City, where he was inspired by graffiti art, and studied at the School of Visual Arts.

As Keith found his style and developed it, his artwork visually fought against mass consumption, racism, capitalism, violence, religion and injustice in all their forms, with a particular emphasis on the threat of nuclear war, the destruction of the environment, homophobia and the AIDS epidemic. His art expressed wherever he showed up.

While he never founded a school or an artistic movement, the curator of the current exhibit, Odile Burluraux, likens Haring to Andy Warhol, “the Pope of pop art”, who remained a friend and mentor.

Keith Haring is quoted as saying:
“I don’t think art is propaganda; it should be something that liberates the soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further. It celebrates humanity instead of manipulating it.”

To quote David Hockney, Haring’s art existed “anywhere he stopped moving.” If Keith Haring were alive today, perhaps he’d tell us to stop, just for a moment.

Keith Haring died on February 16, 1990 at 31-years-old, of AIDS-related complications. His works continues to be exhibited around the world and many are owned by such prestigious museums as the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Modern Art in New York City, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris.

A vast commercial industry has been built around the visual aesthetic of Keith Haring. T-shirts, sneakers, jewelry, and greeting cards draw on the style of the “graffiti school” for their designs. Haring himself capitalized on his own image in a way painters never would have dreamed of before the mass media age.

“My contribution to the world is my ability to draw. I will draw as much as I can for as many people as I can for as long as I can.”
Keith Haring

And one of the most intuitive quotes:
“When I die there is nobody to take my place.”
Keith Haring

Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keith_Haring
http://www.haring.com/

Featured image:
L: Keith Haring (1958–1990), Untitled (Self-Portrait),1985. Acrylic on canvas. Private collection. Keith Haring artwork © Keith Haring Foundation. R: Keith Haring, self-portrait, 1980-1981. One of four Polaroids. Collection of the Keith Haring Foundation.

Other sources:
http://deyoung.famsf.org/haring/about/biography

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English artist, Louis Wain is best known for his drawings, which consistently featured anthropomorphised large-eyed cats and kittens. Here he is shown with his pet cat Peter. H. G. Wells said of him, “He has made the cat his own. He invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves.”

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Wassily‬ Kandinsky was an influential Russian painter and art theorist. He is credited with painting the first purely abstract works. Here he is shown with his cat, Vaske.

Norman Rockwell was a famous 20th-century American painter and illustrator. He was most famous for his Illustrations of everyday life. Here Norman Rockwell is shown working with his Dog Pitter.

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Pablo Picasso a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer who spent most of his adult life in France. As one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is widely known for co-founding the Cubist movement. Shown with his dog Lump.

Jackson Pollock, was an influential American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was well known for his unique style of drip painting. Shown with Gyp and Ahab.

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Henri Matisse‬ was a French artist, known for his use of colour and his fluid and original draughtsmanship. He first started to paint in 1889, after his mother brought him art supplies during a period of convalescence following an attack of appendicitis. He discovered “a kind of paradise” as he later described it, and decided to become an artist, deeply disappointing his father. Looks like his cat was happy though!

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Paul Klee‬ born in Switzerland, and is considered both a German and a Swiss[a] painter. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. In his early years, following his parents’ wishes, he focused on becoming a musician; but he decided on the visual arts during his teen years, partly out of rebellion and partly because of a belief that modern music lacked meaning for him. He stated, “I didn’t find the idea of going in for music creatively particularly attractive in view of the decline in the history of musical achievement.” Shown here with dog Bimbo.

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Salvador Dalí‬ was a prominent Spanish surrealist painter. Dalí was highly imaginative, and also enjoyed indulging in unusual and grandiose behavior. His eccentric manner and attention-grabbing public actions sometimes drew more attention than his artwork, to the dismay of those who held his work in high esteem, and to the irritation of his critics. Shown getting attention with pet Babou.

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Georgia O’Keeffe‬ has been recognized as the Mother of American Modernism. Known as a loner (except for her beloved pets), In 1972, O’Keeffe’s eyesight was compromised by Macular degeneration, leading to the loss of central vision and leaving her with only peripheral vision. She stopped oil painting without assistance in 1972, but continued working in pencil and charcoal until 1984. Shown with her beloved Chow dog.

And my personal favorite:

‪Frida Kahlo‬ a Mexican painter who is best known for her self-portraits. Drawn from personal experiences, including her marriage, her miscarriages, and her numerous operations, Kahlo’s works are often characterized by their suggestions of pain.

“I paint myself because I am so often alone and because I am the subject I know best.” She also stated, “I was born a bitch. I was born a painter.” Shown with pet Hawk, Pet Deer, Xoloitzcuintli Dogs

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Best known for his creativity and inspiration (not to mention the Mona Lisa and Last Supper), all of us creative types have known since we were fledgling artists that Leonardo Da Vinci is one of the most well-known and respected artists of all times – but did you know he was an engineer as well? It’s hard for us to imagine the depths of this man’s intelligence, especially considering the fact that he lived 500 years ago, before there was electricity, bridges on which to cross water, or a way to measure time.

Military Engineering and Weapons Design

Like many artists who find it difficult to earn a living, Da Vinci had to find another way to support himself. He did this by using his artistic genius in such fields as military engineering, weapons design, architecture, and even canal building! At one point in his life, Leonardo earned a salary by working for the Duke of Milan in the capacity of a military engineer. What’s really interesting though is that in this job, he proved to be very talented. Some have called him a “genius,” but whatever you call Leonardo he had a knack for using his artistic talents in some very strange ways. According to the Museum of Science website, Leonardo desired to create “new machines” for a “new world.”

While it’s widely known that Leonardo called war a “beastly madness” and was adamantly against it, he could not avoid getting involved when Renaissance Italy seemed to be engaged in war constantly. Some of the weapons he is said to have designed during the period include grenades, mortars, missiles, and multi-barreled machine guns.

During his years of work with the Duke of Milan which spanned from 1482 to 1499, Duke Ludovico Sforza kept Leonardo busy sculpting and designing all types of things from buildings and machinery to the study of mechanics, geometry, and flying machines. However, it was 1485 to 1490 when Leonardo concentrated his work on producing studies of submarines, a tank, and other advanced weapons. He worked for the Duke a total of 17 years until Sforza’s fall from power in 1499.

It is said that during these 17 years Leonardo produced only six works of art, because of his tendency to jump from one subject to the next. The Last Supper was one of the works produced during his so-called “engineering” years with the Duke of Milan.

There have been many “facts” over the years that may in reality be fabricated rumors, such as the claims that Leonardo was a strict vegetarian. While we may never know for certain which stories are true and which are not, it’s all certainly intriguing!

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