In Haring’s playful Untitled (Three Dancing Figures, version C), three of the artist’s signature genderless and featureless figures, in the primary colors of red, yellow, and blue, dance together. Each dancer has an arm or leg up, captured mid-move. A sense of joyousness permeates the piece, with the three figures intertwined as if moving on a crowded dance floor. Said the artist, “I think public art (unless there is a specific political or ideological message) should make people feel comfortable and brighten their environment.”(1) Haring first came to prominence in the early 1980s as a member of New York’s graffiti subculture for his rapidly sketched chalk drawings on the panels meant for advertising posters in the New York City subway. He developed a paired down iconography of images inspired by cartoons and comic books that could be executed quickly in unsanctioned locations.  

Though Haring was soon invited to exhibit at galleries and museums, he remained committed to making his art accessible outside of these rarefied spaces. In 1986, he opened the Pop Shop in New York’s SoHo, selling buttons, toys, and t-shirts bearing his images. The store functioned both as a retail venue and alternative art space, inspired by the commercial endeavors of his close friend Andy Warhol. Haring was also a committed activist who created public sculptures and murals drawing attention to social issues including the danger of crack cocaine, apartheid, and the AIDS epidemic. His work can be seen across the world in locations such as freeway overpasses, playgrounds, and the children’s wards of hospitals. In 1988, Haring was diagnosed with AIDS. In the two years following, before his untimely death at the age of 31, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, which provides funding to AIDS organizations and children’s charities into the present day.

(1) Keith Haring Journals (New York: Penguin Classics, 2010), 127.