Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody

The North American tour for Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody is a major survey exhibition on the work of Keith Haring (US, 1958–1990). Organized by The Broad, Los Angeles, this expansive show features more than 100 artworks, including rarely seen archival materials. 

Recognized for his unique visual language conveyed through vibrant color, energetic line work, and iconic characters such as the barking dog and the “radiant baby,” Haring embraced a democratic spirit in his work, aiming to dissolve barriers between art and life. His practice was rooted in the notion that “art is for everybody,” a creative ethos and mission he carried from his early drawings in New York’s subway stations to his renowned public murals.

Born in 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, Haring moved to New York City in 1978 to study at the School of Visual Arts. He quickly became a fixture within the downtown community, alongside artists that included Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf, and Andy Warhol. Haring’s output throughout the 1980s was enmeshed in the countercultural and nightlife scenes of the decade, with shows staged at such venues as Club 57 and other alternative spaces. Haring is perhaps best known for his subway drawings—of which he created over 5,000 throughout his career—where he used his distinctive style of line drawing to create works in public space that were infused with social and political commentary, humor, and exuberance.

Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody will explore both Haring’s artistic practice and his life, including major paintings, sculptures, drawings, and mural-scaled works, along with video, photographs, ephemera, and important source material from his personal journals. The presentation spans the full arc of the artist’s short career, beginning with works made in the late 1970s, while he was an art student, through the late 1980s, just before his death from AIDS-related illness at the age of 31. Haring’s art and passionate activism were intertwined, and works in the exhibition show his commentary on issues surrounding environmentalism, capitalism, religion, race, and sexuality. In particular, the artist’s participation in the nuclear disarmament and anti-Apartheid movements, and his activism within the HIV/AIDS crisis led to significant works.

The exhibition includes a wide range of works featuring Haring’s emblematic characters, such as dancing figures, barking dogs, and crawling babies. It also includes a section on the immersive environment of his celebrated Pop Shop, an artist-designed store that featured his imagery on a variety of everyday products, from T-shirts to skateboards. Haring’s unique visual language—now broadly recognizable in popular culture—continues to resonate for its prescient address of social issues, and its celebration of joy, solidarity, community, and hope.

A major catalogue accompanies the exhibition