After Keith Haring

A nuclear disarmament poster designed and distributed by Keith Haring for an activist event in 1982.

• After Keith Haring (American, 1958-1990).
• Offset-lithograph.
• Printed signature on lower right.
• This work is presented unframed.

In 1982 Keith Haring created this poster for Nuclear Disarmament, which features his signature Radiant Baby in a mushroom cloud. This historical work marks Haring's first poster and helped engineer his focus on social activism. On June 2, 1982 Haring transported the stack of posters in a handcart to New York's Central Park, to what was the largest demonstration to date against nuclear weapons and the 1980s global arms race. There were approximately one million protesters and Haring gave his posters away for free (source: Keith Haring: Posters Prestel pub.).

“Babies represent the possibility of the future,” Haring said, “the understanding of perfection, how perfect we could be. There is nothing negative about a baby, ever … The reason that the “baby” has become my logo or signature is that it is the purest and most positive experience of human existence.” A rare example presented here in fine condition.

Keith Haring (American, 1958–1990), a Neo-Pop and Graffiti artist, had a short but prolific career centered on a vision to unite “high art,” urban aesthetics, and public spaces using humorous, irreverent, and poignant works. Born in Pennsylvania, Haring attended the Ivy School of Art in Pittsburgh for two years, planning to become a commercial artist. He found this path unsatisfying, and instead chose to study at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he met fellow artists Jean Michel Basquiat and Kenny Scharf. Haring immersed himself in the culture of the city’s streets and clubs, and, in 1980, began covering the blank billboards on subway station walls with his Subway drawings in chalk.

Haring’s bold public art attracted the attention of several galleries, and, by the early 1980s, he was painting Neo-Pop works and large murals full time. In an effort to make his art widely accessible, Haring opened the Pop Shop in 1986 in downtown New York, selling commercial items adorned with his signature, cartoonish imagery. Haring combined graffiti, hip-hop, and urban aesthetics, frequently depicting animals, figures, commercial icons, sexual imagery, and childlike motifs in pieces that were both playful and concerned with social issues. His work became increasingly confrontational following his 1987 diagnosis of AIDS.

Haring resolved to work harder than ever in his remaining years, creating pieces with a fervent speed and devoting his art to social action in addition to his personal expression. In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, whose goal is to promote art programs and public spaces for children, and to raise awareness about AIDS.

He died on February 16, 1990 in New York at the age of 31. In addition to hundreds of exhibitions held during his lifetime, Haring has been the subject of numerous retrospectives in New York, San Francisco, Paris, Tokyo, and Berlin since his death.

Obtained from a NY private collection.

Included in the essay, The Radiant Christ Child, by Natalie E. Phillips.