East Village Art

Untitled (1982)

Artist: Keith Haring

Keith Haring was a central figure in the East Village Art scene of the 1980s, along with his close friend, Jean-Michel Basquiat. His art is now emblematic of the movement, both in terms of its style and the artist's origins. Haring began as a graffiti artist and continued with the aesthetic he developed in public spaces even after he started to show in galleries, whilst exploring subject matter that promoted hope for the future and brotherly love amongst all people regardless of race, sexuality or identity. In this image, two dark figures without distinguishing features casually embrace, with both the background and the radiating lines around them rendered in bright, luminous colour.

Haring's works are all characterized by simple forms, heavy lines, and bold colors. Many of his works feature androgynous figures, dogs, and the "radiant baby", which he adopted as his tag and called it "the purest and most positive experience of human existence." The lines radiating outward from the radiant baby, and from other figures in his pieces (such as the two embracing figures seen in this image), were meant to represent "spiritual light glowing from within, as though the [figure] were a holy figure from a religious painting, only the glow is rendered in the visual vocabulary of a cartoon." However, these radiating lines have also been understood as the "aura" of radioactivity. This is most commonly read into Haring's work which features the radiant baby atop a mushroom cloud, surrounded by three angels, an image created for an antinuclear rally in New York. In it Haring links the death and destruction of thermonuclear warfare with the biblical concept of the apocalypse.

The two embracing figures in this image are likely meant to also promote and celebrate acceptance of homosexual relationships. This was a key message throughout much of Haring's work, as he wished to challenge the traditional views of the Catholic and fundamentalist churches toward homosexuality (having himself been an active member of the Jesus People throughout his teen years). By including lines radiating outward from the figures (a common motif in religious artworks, such as in representations of the Virgin Mary), Haring borrowed religious iconography in order to suggest the figures' spiritual redemption through their love for one another.

Art critic and curator Bruce D. Kurtz notes that "most of Haring's figures are without gender, race, age (except the Radiant Child), or even facial features. They represent humankind, not men or women, not whites or blacks, Hispanics, Asians, or Native Americans, not adults, the elderly, or children, but everyone." The accessibility of Haring's works were also enhanced by their frequent placement in public spaces, like city streets and subway signs, inviting people of all cultures, classes, and educational backgrounds to engage with the work, an egalitarian and evangelistic attitude at odds with the elitism of the established art world of the 1980s. Like other artists of the East Village scene, Haring was keen to make his work accessible, engaging and fun.

In 1986 in SoHo, Haring opened the Pop Shop, which he referred to as an "antigallery", where visitors could purchase posters, T-shirts, and other objects designed by Haring for low prices. Visual Studies professor Natalie E. Phillips asserts that through the Pop Shop, Haring "made his work available to a much broader range of people, and countered the notion that true art is a rare and precious thing appreciated by only a select few".