Keith Haring Street Art

Yasmeen Kamrani Sallam
Jun 30, 2023
2 min read

Keith Haring was a popular artist and activist during the 1980s. Much of his work responded to social and political events. As an openly gay artist he represented a lot of what the LGBTQ community went through. He loved working with children, admiring their imagination, and encouraged them to collaboratively create art. He believed children were his most important audience.

Haring developed an eye-catching distinct pop-graffiti aesthetic with fluid and bold outlines. Many of his paintings often repeated symbols. He believed in the power of love so the hearts, symbols, and human figures portrayed his optimistic beliefs in humanity.

Keith believed "Art is for Everybody,' so one of his first chalk subway drawings was in the NYC subway station to make the imaginations of the people dance, prance, roar and soar. His art was seen in galleries, alley walls, sculptures @ parks, toys, t-shirts, posters, sneakers, museums, buildings, and the streets.

After reading Drawing on the Walls, Art is Life, and Pop Art Baby, with a black tempera stick we created outlines of his art on our sidewalk. We invited the children to color Keith Haring Street art with chalk to pay homage to his first subway painting.

Most of us know that art is important for children. But beyond why it is important for them to create art it is just vital to expose children to inspiring artists. Art connects us all. It can take us through history, introduce us to other cultures, the world around us, and to ourselves. Therefore the more a child is exposed to the arts, the more techniques they are aware of, the more they can problem solve to think critically, the more they can creatively express themselves, the more accepting they are, and the more beauty they can see in the world around them. Art is one of the fundamental components of what makes us ALL uniquely human.