Keith Haring

Keith Haring was an American artist and social activist whose work was a response to New York City's street culture of the 1980s. His work explores the themes of birth, death, sex and war; which were very fitting for the period in which he lived and worked.

Haring was openly gay at a time when most of the LGBT community kept their sexuality behind closed doors. This had a massive impact on his work, and a large part of Haring's appeal and influence as an artist, was based around how his art raised awareness of social issues such as AIDS. Having been diagnosed with AIDS himself in 1988, he established the Keith Haring Foundation just one year later, using his work to raise money for AIDS research and AIDS awareness. Organization's such as Red Hot still use Haring's work to achieve and continue this legacy. Haring himself died of AIDS in 1990 at age 32.

Although his career was brief, Haring had a huge intense impact on the art world and those around him; running in a creative social circle that had him working alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol. 

Through his public murals, subway drawings, prints, and paintings, Haring created a range of images that have become internationally recognized and heavily appropriated across a bevy of genres and industries. Haring continues to inspire the work of artist's to this day; Banksy being one.