Keith Haring's vibrant pop legacy lives on in New YorkWhitney Museum honors artist with first retrospectiveJuly 3, 1997Web posted at: 2:17 p.m. EDT (1817 GMT) From Correspondent Norma Quarles NEW YORK (CNN) -- Uptown, downtown, all around town it seems, one can find art created by Keith Haring. A look at his life: 1.8Mb/43 sec. QuickTime movie4.7Mb larger frame version
In New York's Harlem, the "Crack is Wack" mural Haring painted as a street artist in 1986 is still intact. A temporary exhibit of Haring's later work -- sculptures he created in a studio -- enlivens Park Avenue. In the city's SoHo district, Haring created a "pop shop" to sell reproductions of his artwork at popular prices.
Known as a workaholic, Haring created thousands of images, donating murals to children's hospitals and "Keith Haring is probably one of the most well-known contemporary American artists," said Elisabeth Sussman of the Whitney Museum of American Art. "Somehow, and I'm not quite sure how, kids know him; adults know him; people in Europe and in Japan have heard of him." Because of this wide appeal and the artist's role in shaping the culture of the '80s, the Whitney is holding the first Haring retrospective. The exhibition, which opened June 25, includes 130 paintings, photos, videos, pieces of installation art and disco art. "He was a product of his times," said Julia Gruen, the executive director of the Keith Haring Foundation. "Born in 1958, grew up in the 60s. His visual stimuli were as varied as the Vietnam War, Watergate, Disney and 'My Mother the Car.' His mission was to reach an exceptionally large audience." 
To reach that goal, Haring left Kutztown, Pennsylvania in 1977, attended a New York art school, and began his career as a street artist doing chalk drawings in the subways. "I think all these images -- the barking dog, the little man -- he was trying to find his own cast of characters that could somehow have the power of the Disney images," reflected Sussman. Through the Haring Foundation, his philanthropy continues. This was an artist who created an "everyman" who appeals to almost everyone. The Whitney Museum's Haring retrospective runs through September 21.
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promoting AIDS awareness. The artist died of AIDS in 1990, at the age of 31. Despite his short life, he made a big impression.
