Keith Haring Artwork and Inspiration - Research Paper Example

? Keith Haring artwork and inspiration Chapter Introduction Background information For just 32 years, Haring Keith lived and left a great legacy in visual arts in the United States. Having been born in 1958 in Reading, he spent his childhood within Kutztown in a farm community and this is when his clear interest in art was noted. Among his childhood hobbies was drawing through which he started by drawing such images as cartoons with progression to greater and more complex images and designs. Warhol's mass-produced artwork formed a great inspiration in the career of Haring when he saw his works of flat lines as well as pop illustrations. He did great work in exalting the common place just as was a great ideal applied by Warhol in his works. His interests in the world of arts as well as the gay people made him shift for the city of New York in 1980. Among his first works of arts were graffiti along the streets, which were depictions of ‘imaginary’ animals as well as a ‘human on fours’. Nevertheless, his major exhibition would follow when he secured employment with Tony Shafrazi in a gallery in 1982. His journey into celebrity and wealth thrived within the 1980s when even Warhol among others became a staunch fan to his works. Modonna described Haring’s work as one of own kind with great awareness creation especially on world realities while exhibiting lots of innocence. However, his involvement in gay life saw his death through HIV and Aids in the late 20th century. He is celebrated for having practiced artwork even after diagnosis with HIV where he is said to have done it until he could no longer hold a brush or pencil firmly but much of his works centered around community awareness and sensitization on Aids as well as the rights to gays within the society1. Problem statement The above introduction reveals that Haring lived a relatively short live but was successful in living a fulfilled live in community awareness and advocacy. He lived to rise into great heights in celebrity world as well as amassing great wealth through his visual artwork. A great collection of the artist’s works is safely recorded and kept by his foundation ‘the Keith Haring foundation’ in collaboration with the ‘Art. Com’. For instance, a representation of a quotable Polaroid as presented by the art.com has one of Haring’s commentaries regarding the art of living where he reasons that one should never imitate life but on the contrary live as it is. He also ran various shops as outlets to his works of art as an attitude of populist attitude was central to his character and living. Besides, through a notable notoriety Haring did many graffiti along the city’s subways, which led him to rise amazingly within the visual art field in and around the city in 1980s. Among his great works of activism was the activism concerning drugs and substance among the young, nuclear weapons as well as the epidemic of Aids2. Haring developed great works of art through the primacy of ‘line’, and carried great determination on public art, which saw him, increase in efforts towards realizing his dreams. Experimentation of his artistic values were often done in the subways which he had adopted to do his drawings through chalk and through this, he received a lot of audience by commuters who would often engage him whenever they would meet him. The 1980’s saw him gain much attention both within the country as well as internationally where he actively participate in arts exhibitions, while in groups as well as a sole exhibitor3. However, despite the existence of great works of Haring on artwork, one would be concerned to understand what formed the great inspiration that drove Haring in his works. The foregoing discussion has not touched on the factors or issues that inspired Keith to do his visual art and this presents a problem, which this research intends to evaluate. There exists a lot of literature on the works and life of Haring and thus critical analysis has a potential of revealing the source of inspiration to Keith. Thesis statement Keith reasons that life is an art that needs practicing and not imitation and this is exhibited through the great and fulfilling life that he led despite having lived relatively shortly. Nevertheless, there is the need to understand what inspired his way of life right from his childhood into his youthful age as well as what works of art he specialized in. This paper therefore intends to investigate the source of inspiration upon which Keith relied on in his engagement in visual arts and critically analyze some of his visual art works. Objectives of the study This study is guided by a number of objectives which includes a) Evaluate the life of Keith in arts and understand his inspiration b) To engage the development of visual arts within the US before during as well as after Haring’s time c) Propose possible themes of study concerning visual art development in US learning from the works of Keith in 1980s Significance of the Study This study has the main objective as being that of understanding the inspiration that the works of Keith came from. However, the study involves among other aims to evaluate the contemporary artworks before as well during 1980s through which Keith would have had immediate reference. This study will therefore add to the existing literature from other studies that have been done previously on the theme. Besides, the study would clearly outline some of the evolutionary stages through which the artwork has undergone and the contribution of Haring’s work in the 1980s. Besides, the findings of this study will be instrumental in informing readers and such researchers on the actual source of inspiration to Haring’s works in art. Besides, future studies would have a lot to learn from the findings of the current study. Research Questions Based on the scope of the study, the questions under which the research study is to be conducted include: 1. What particular personalities in the field of arts inspired Haring in artwork? 2. What fields interested him more while producing his works of art and what effects did his works have in the field? 3. How was the field of arts prior to and during his engagements in visual arts? Hypothesis This study intends to ascertain the authenticity of the following statements in assumption regarding the works of Keith and his source of inspiration: a) Keith’s way of life (as a gay and as an Aids victim) informs his great interest in advocacy and community sensitization rights of the gays as well as the AIDs victims. b) His immediate world while as a kid and general upbringing explains his childhood interests in drawing and painting. c) Exposure while studying as well as interaction with other artists of the time increased his interest in artworks while young as well as in the advanced age. Limitations of the study This study wholly depends on data and information that is currently available through literature and thus there is likelihood that such literature lacks from such sources as the internet. This is therefore the main problem that the researcher envisions that would limit the study if the necessary literature is not found or if the literature is not up to date. Moreover, the availability of the literature to be reviewed is a fundamental concern where the limited literature is likely to affect negatively the study findings. Chapter 2: Literature review According to an article by IBNlive.com, Keith died at a tender age of 31 years though he left great legacy in the 20th century art works in US. He had close relations with such iconic figures of the late 20th century as Madonna, Warhol and Basquiat among others. However, his artwork had a great acumen in activism on the city’s street culture in that age. The article shows also that Haring developed his interest in drawing while at a very tender age with guidance from his father as well as the culture around him then. According to this literature, Keith’s work stood distinct from the rest of artwork in that it uniquely represented the real life in the society as well as his own life a feature that makes his works stand out even in the modern day art exhibitions. His social work through activism and public art exhibitions built on his reputation even across the globe. Besides, having been influenced by his father in early age to venture into the art field, Haring developed close relations with Warhol who was also an artist and who is thought of having mentored Haring much in the field of arts4. The pop culture dominated the streets of Ney York in the 1980s and this attracted Haring more to engage in social works. However, his love for art influenced his choice in practicing visual arts on contemporary street life at the time. His involvement in gay life informed his active participation in community sensitization and activism with human rights being in the forefront among his activism works. His diagnosis with Aids informed his decision to have a foundation, which would fund visual arts, as well as organizations, which took care of the HIV and Aids patients. He advanced his social activism through personal experience with HIV riding on his social status as a celebrity of the age. Besides using his art work for branding of clothing, haring’s works of art were easily absorbed into industrial manufacturing where such things as kitchen ware bore the bright and dull colors of Haring’s pieces of the age5. The doodle used by Google today traces its origin from the artwork of haring as it stood out to represent pop culture within the streets of New York in the 1980s. According to Gabbard, Haring early childhood interest in arts was influenced partly by his father who was a cartoonist as well as other icons like Disney and Seuss. When he moved into New York as a young man, Haring learnt new skills and models of arts through exhibitions in subways, streets as well as dance halls among other places. Besides, he engaged in outlet retailing where he operated a store to sell branded t-shirts, magnets, posters as well as a variety of household items, which bore his unique artworks. Despite receiving criticisms from peers on commercializing his artwork, he held to the ideal of commercializing his works for enhancing accessibility to all. This explains his growth into a celebrated artist whose close relations turned out to be the likes of Warhol and Madonna with who he often did collaborations. His works feature in many museums across the globe with most of his activism in the last years of his life being channeled to foundations and organizations, which deal with activism on Aids and gay rights in the US6. Haring invested most of his time to do artwork with social messages and has a record of over fifty pieces of public works of art between over the period between 1982 and 1989. He is remembered to have done many artworks for charitable organizations, hospitals, children homes as well as orphanages across the globe all inspired by the pop street life he experienced while in New York. His spectacular art in imagery was well mastered that he would communicate barely all concepts of life through drawing as well as painting. Such concepts as he represented in artwork were love, death, birth, war as well as sex and his language became universally acceptable/known in the late 20th century. Special feature in his imagery while sick was the use of his own condition as an HIV victim to conduct civic awareness as well as activism. This is equally seen to have been a source of inspiration to his artworks in later years of his illness7. Zhu investigated Haring’s life and inspiration into artwork and among other findings; most of his public works of art were representations of the contemporary street life in New York as well as his inner life. While many people try to understand the source of his inspiration, one of his close friends associated his inspiration from his addiction to club life as well as frequency in reading newspapers. Nevertheless, the report finds that his upbringing by a cartoonist in a family of four had great impact towards his interest in practicing works of art. Besides, the age defined an increased state of space exploration and thus played an important part in influencing an artist’s mind. However, much of the inspiration to Haring was from his exposure to education while pursuing his studies. Moreover, Zhu found out that Haring had great inspiration derived from other artists’ works such as Alechinsky, Dubuffet as well as Christo, which were found in museums. This led to an evolution to the works of art over the age when Haring produced own life through the pieces of graffiti he drew on open walls8. His identity in the field of arts was through the symbol and name of a ‘radiant baby’. Accordingly, Keith’s use of colors as well as bold lines effectively communicated life lessons as well as unity lessons. His symbolic radiant baby implied the innocence and purity of a child and became popular in the pop street life within the city during the time. A special production of a mural ‘crack is wack’ in 1986 increased his fame and through it he met with Warhol who had a great influence to his life later after. Warhol is credited for the great success in the future of Keith’s work after their first encounter. His advocacy against drug use based on personal experience triggered his fame across the globe where he painted numerous murals all over the globe. Besides, his interactions with pop icons of the 80s raised his popularity and increased on his inspiration for more art works. His SOOHO pop shop became an excellent outlet for selling his works of art, which mainly featured such themes as social political issues, as well as street life of the time. Among other issues, he addressed were the cocaine epidemic among the cracks, apartheid as well as the epidemic of HIV. His diagnosis with Aids opened a new world of ideas through which his foundation was started with an aim of funding such organizations that actively participated in Aids awareness and advocacy as well as an avenue to an increased audience to his works even after his death. Through unique pieces of arts, haring communicated his involvement in homosexuality and had an uninhibited exuberance over celebrating gay sex9. Understanding Keith would not be complete without analyzing his interest in books and visual representations of cartoons while young. Having learnt the basics in the industry from his biological father, he grew to join the psychedelic culture, Beatnik movement as well as the rock music, which all had great influence on his career path. He also animated works of cobra movement besides the inspiration he drew from comic books he loved at a tender age. He adopted the styles of combining hieroglyphs, collages of texts, geometrical lines as well as video installations to present his works of art. Graffiti worked to spur up his mind to adopt public venues as subways as good places for his art work because such places offered unique exhibitions and engagement to the public. Besides, he used gallery exhibitions for exhibiting his works of art and Tony Shafrazi, a gallery manager became of paramount help to haring when he organized his first ever gallery solo exhibition. After the exhibition, haring got a platform for traveling everywhere exhibiting his artworks. Among other attributes that shaped the mastery in command in the field of arts by Haring was his high level of creativity, skills in fine arts as well as his interest in emerging issues within the society. His works depicted imaginary animals, real animals such as snakes, dolphins, human beings, children, dancers, angles, pyramids, televisions, clocks and many others, which were all thematic. Majority of his themes revolved around day-day living within the streets and spirituality as shown by the angles. He adopted his signature to be a line through which all his creations were done and is said to have had high understanding of his art that he never had any sketches even while doing commercial works. Bright backgrounds upon which a mixture of thick and lighter black colored lines formed the images represented his characteristic pieces of arts. He successfully communicated issues of sexuality, drugs as well as the deadly epidemic of HIV and aids through his works of art10. When Haring shifted his location into New York for studies, his interaction with other artists opened a new door in his career in arts industry. His interaction with Christo’s work on a fence that made him visualize the great opportunity that open spaces provided for visual arts. He acknowledged that art would be an effective tool to use to communicate to all segments of life; the young, aged, rich, poor, majority as well as the minorities within the society. His acknowledgement of the open art informed his open space drawings in subways and such other public places. His desire to revolutionize the industry saw him rise into an international icon in visual arts and is celebrated to have painted numerous paintings across the Europe and US11. Chapter 3: Methodology This part describes the procedure that will be used during the testing of the hypothesis, collecting of data and management of data upon which this study is based. The chapter additionally explains the method that is used during data analysis and the description entailing the scope of the procedure that eventually lead to the answering of the hypothetical question that was generated, from the review of the literature. Unlike research methods that are used by researchers to refer to distinct techniques that are applied while carrying out a research study, research methodology describes the vast number of processes that a researcher involves while studying specific phenomena. Methodologies therefore refer to the systematic process through which a research study is carried out. Research methods are categorically part of the methodologies that are utilized by a researcher while carrying out a research study. Methodology is a critical step while carrying out a research study in that through literature review, one is able to know whether it is a study that has ever been done and if so the methods applied previously and the outcomes that were gotten. It therefore assists the research in determining whether his/her methods have been used in the past and what other methods have ever been used. Moreover, the methodology may depend on the research being either structured or unstructured within the qualitative/quantitative analysis. Nevertheless, the conceptual or theoretical research studies are guided by some abstract ideas or theories. Testing of the hypothesis as well as interpretation of the findings is based on some predetermined body of knowledge or theories. The theories are assumed conventional and thus universally acceptable. It is however necessary that a researcher defines the theory under use in order to determine the methodologies to use within the study. These are equally dependent on the subject or field of study. The research paradigm adopted as either being qualitative or quantitative is equally very instrumental in deciding on the methodology to be applied. Qualitative and quantitative research studies depend on the major differences notable on the nature of reality, epistemology (relationships being studied), use of language, role of values as well as the overall research process12. Analytical methods especially the empirical analyses are applicable within the context of testable variable within studies. Other relationships are not testable hence; the studies adopt the deductive methodologies of carrying out a research study. On the other hand, whenever research variables relate in manners that are both predictable through theoretical deductions and can be testable, the studies will employ the use of the two simultaneously. Deductions from the study findings will then be applicable in general context within the capacity of the study to project and make inferences. By conducting my study under the deductive framework and by use of qualitative analysis, the study methodology is not unique, as others have used the methodology in the past. However, uniqueness is ascertained by the specific analysis engaged within this study as opposed to the other studies carried out in a like or related analysis. This study will therefore wholly rely on the literature reviewed in reference to the theme of ‘Haring Keith’s artworks as well as his inspiration’. Research Design The research design describes a unique procedure that the researcher is going to use to go about the data collection exercise. In case study, the researcher identifies a specialised situation and undertakes a comprehensive study or research around the situation. This study therefore identifies the case of interest to be the analysis of the ‘Haring Keith’s artworks as well as his inspiration’ as would be effective to understand street life and social political issues that characterized street life in New York in the 80s. Chapter 4: Findings and Analysis Findings From the above discussion through the literature reviewed, Keith is seen to have lived a relatively short life (for 31 years only) but through which he had ascended the ladder of fame and died a well known icon across the world especially on matters of art works. He also amassed great wealth through exhibitions and sale of his murals a fact confirmed by his engagement in charity works. His interest in drawing and painting is shown to have developed at a very tender age with his father having been the great influence. His father was a renowned cartoonist from who Keith learnt the art of representing own world through lines and light. Having developed his interests that young, Keith intended to pursue commercial art but had to drop along the way for what he thought more interesting; the fine arts. His studies exposed him to production and exhibitions, which triggered his drawings, and paintings along the subways, which offered him, increased audience though in notoriety. Nevertheless, his works attracted public attention and this connected him with the worlds of celebrities such as Madonna, Warhol and others in the city. Moreover, his art works gained international attention and he thus held great exhibitions in various places around the world. He specialized on street life and issues of apartheid, homosexuality, drugs and addiction as well as HIV and aids as an epidemic. Much of his inspiration would be argued to have come from the early childhood upbringing in rural areas by a cartoonist father. His exposure through education and exhibitions increased on his desire to use art as a tool for communication. Besides, he was hooked up with such celebrities as Warhol who increased on his celebrity and through whom he has to understand pop street life within New York. His social life as a gay and a drug user inspired his activism and advocacy role as he fought for the rights of such homosexuals as well as drug addicts. Moreover, his diagnosis with Aids in the later years of his life inspired him to participate actively in community awareness besides setting up charitable foundation for support of the organizations, which addressed Aids patients and children homes as well as orphanages. In sum therefore, his works of art were multifaceted and carried inspiration from various stages in his life as well as his interaction with art figures that turned out as his mentors. Analysis In this stage, this paper analyses the information deductively collected and evaluate its implication on the questions as well as hypotheses developed for the study. There were particular persons in his life that had great influence through inspiration to his visual arts. Among these persons was his biological father, who was a cartoonist and from whom, Keith learnt drawing and painting objects while at a tender age. Later he interacted with such celebrities as Warhol, Madonna, Tony Shafrazi as well as Basquiat among others. Through and the personalities, Haring was in a position to stage numerous exhibitions as individually as well as in collaborations and this furthered his career. He designed such celebrities their clothes and other art pieces for specific events and occasions. He invested much in public arts through which he managed to produce different pieces for public advocacy and sensitization. His lifestyle as a gay led to him designs various pieces in activism for rights of homosexuals and such minorities in the society. Moreover, pop street culture was the basic feature of the time in New York, which featured numerously in his artworks. He also did some works on community sensitization about drugs and the street life and this would turn out to be great influence on natives of the city while making life decisions. He also invested in artworks, which featured on household items, clothing and other outfits. He carried a unique logo of a radiant baby whose meaning was that babies are innocent and always pure. The field of arts has been predominant in the entire world and special features have been identified with different societies as well as different times. This implies that visual arts existed before the time of Haring as is evidenced by his father as a cartoonist as well as by involvement of Warhol in arts before mentoring Haring. However, a special feature in the works of Haring was notable by his use of lines and intensity of color to represent real life and social political issues around people’s lives. He also adopted unique styles of drawing in subways where he would gain higher publicity besides effectively communicating his message. It was also a unique feature for Haring to involve in commercialized production, as it was not the norm. However, he reasoned that through such sales, he would gain popularity and communicate to wider segments of people. This greatly changed the industry and his works dominate in the field as is evident in many museum exhibitions across the world. This analysis therefore confirms the postulation of the hypothesis that Haring was inspired and motivated by own life as a gay and a victim to Aids to do much of his artwork. He also used the media as a platform to advocate for human rights as well as to sensitize the public on HIV and drugs in the pop culture of New York. Besides, having been brought up by an artist father and such people around him informs his interest in arts at such a tender age. Finally, it is the finding of this study that education exposed Haring into the world of arts. Besides, his interactions with celebrities in acting and written arts raised his interest and capacity to shine into being a well-celebrated visual arts icon of all times. Chapter 4: Conclusion The evaluation of visual arts in the US since 1945 is shown to have evolved through great stages. It would be generally acknowledged that art is a very old tool of social construct that has been used within all human societies. However, it is worth noting that prevailing factors influence the choice of genre of art chosen at any one time. Besides, emerging issues such as technology and state of art would influence the outcome of the industry at any one time. The arts industry was well developed prior to his birth in 1958 as confirmed by his father’s career as a cartoonist. His birth and bringing up around his father as well as his interest in comic books and cartoons informed his interest for artwork. He later left his home for higher studies in the city, a factor that is linked to his change in attitude to engage in visual arts as against the commercial arts works as was his initial area of study. His exposure on exhibitions of visual arts through such open spaces as the fences and subways stations increased his interest in the art. He is celebrated to have left a great legacy across the globe through fine arts, which besides being rich museum heritage holds dear to industrial production of such goods as cloths and home appliances. He invested his skill in issues of advocacy for rights to minorities, drug and substance use as well as the epidemic of HIV. His artworks had a special attention to prevailing pop culture in the streets of New York and this enabled him to rise easily in the ladder of celebrity to become a renowned icon. His father and future relations with the likes of such icons as Madonna and Warhol among others in arts industry influenced him. Nevertheless, his career path was not to last long as he contracted HIV and died at the age of 31 years. However, he established a foundation through which his advocacy has been perpetuated even after his death. Besides the foundation perpetuating his legacy, it was his intention that the foundation would be a source of funding to charitable organizations, which were devoted to support aids victims, children and other such vulnerable groups within the streets of Ney York. His works are unique features within many world museums and are greatly celebrated. Bibliography Art.com - Posters, Art Prints, Framed Art, and Wall Art Collections. "Art.com - The Keith Haring Artwork Collection." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://www.art.com/~/keithharingcollection/. Clarke R. J. 2005. Research models and methodologies. HDR seminar series, http://www.uow.edu.au/content/groups/public/@web/@commerce/documents/doc/uow012042.pdf Dayton Most Metro. "36 Local Artists Create Keith Haring Inspired Art To Benefit ARC Ohio." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://mostmetro.com/the-featured-articles/36-local-artists-create-keith-haring-inspired-art-to-benefit-arc-ohio.html. IBNLive. "Keith Haring: Madonna's buddy, Warhol's inspiration." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://ibnlive.in.com/news/keith-haring-madonnas-buddy-warhols-inspiration/254720-11.html. Keith Haring. "Bio." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://www.haring.com/!/about-haring/bio#.UpIJZvKNBmg. MAC Lyon - Musee d'art contemporain de Lyon. Accessed November 25, 2013. http://www.mac-lyon.com/static/mac/contenu/fichiers/dossiers_presse/2008/haring_en.pdf. Marquette University // Be The Difference. Accessed November 25, 2013. http://www.marquette.edu/haggerty/documents/winter_04_05.pdf. Simply.Striking. "Art Inspiration: Keith Haring." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://simplystrikingblog.com/2013/10/28/art-inspiration-keith-haring/. Search Engine Marketing & Optimization Company France & Europe: 1ere Position. "Keith Haring Inspiration - 1ere Position logo." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://www.1ere-position.com/resources/keith-haring/ StencilRevolution.com - The Stencil and Street Art Community. "Keith Haring Street Artist Biography." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://www.stencilrevolution.com/profiles/keith-haring/. Tiffany Zhu. "Keith Haring and His Performance Art — Tiffany Zhu." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://tiffanyzhu.com/blog/2013/3/4/keith-haring-and-his-performance-art. WebProNews. "Keith Haring Inspired Art Featured on Google Doodle." Accessed November 25, 2013. http://www.webpronews.com/google-doodle-pays-homage-to-keith-haring-2012-05. Read More