Consuming Art, comsuming Society_ Keith Haring works and his inspiration - Research Paper Example

Keith must have inherited his amazing style and artwork talent from his father who was a cartoonist. The paper will focus more on Keith Haring artwork and its inspirations on the art world. Discussion From his childhood years, Keith was interested in artwork and he grew up making drawings with his dad in Kutztown in Pennsylvania, and was increasingly motivated by popular Disney and Schultz cartoon work. Between 1979 and 78, he went to commercial collage of art in Ivy Professional Art college and gained interest in international artwork and later focused or Fine Art study1.

Keith’s art was later witnessed in all public murals, nightclubs, museums and galleries all over the globe and he was famous for his activism in promoting awareness of AIDS. In New York, a home of thriving underground art scene, Keith befriended his fellow artists such as Jean-Mechel and Scarf, both of whom shared his colorful and transgressive graffiti art interest of the streets of the city2. Together with his colleagues organized exhibitions at different locations such as downtown nightclubs where music, art, and fashion combined in an effective mix.

Outside the clubs, Keith started utilizing the town as his canvas, and riding the subway he discovered a black rectangular paper of blank advertising panels on wall stations and with a white chalk he started filling the panels with quick, simple picture drawings3. His signature images comprised of dancing images, a crawling baby generating light rays –radiant boy- a dog barking, flying saucer, television heads figures and bigger hearts, these graffiti images drew New York commuters and city authorities attention leading to Keith accusation of vandalism4.

He responded to this accusation by highlighting that high art is an increasingly expensive production such that common people, therefore, to neutralize this Pop Shop store allowed ordinary people to afford art items at affordable prices. The shop has since then prospered and expanded its practices online. Keith later started to apply his globally known imagery to self-supporting paintings and drawings. His art optimism and energy, with its strong lines and shining colors made him popular with great number of audience and in 1981, he started his solo exhibition in Manhattan.

In 1983, he began displaying his artwork in galleries such as Tony Shafrazi that would display him in his lifelong career. All through from 1980s, Keith’s work was displayed broadly both internationally and in the US. In addition, in the quest to promote accessibility of his work, he started Pop Shop retail shop in the city of the New York and its neighborhood Soho in 1986 where he exhibited posters, Tshirt other cheap items featuring his signature designs5. Since then, various commercial industries have been established round Keith’s visual aesthetic all over the world with some of the items such as T-shirts, sneakers, cards and jewelry made from Keith artwork, and graffiti school designs.

Keith has capitalized on his own image in a manner that painters could not imagine before the mass media age6. As he discovered and developed his style, Keith’s artwork visually fought against increased forms of racism, capitalism, religious, injustice and violence consumption, with focus on the nuclear war threats, environmental destruction, AIDs pandemic