Keith Haring: influences, peers and legacy

Every connection with its receipt

Keith Haring arrived in New York in 1978 carrying Pennsylvania cartoon fluency, a semiotics habit, and a conviction that art belonged in the subway before the gallery. This mix traces the painters and books that armed him, the downtown scene that made him, and the street-to-brand artists who inherited his line.

The Kynda mix for Keith Haring

• Key Influence · Marilyn Diptych by Andy Warhol (1962). Warhol was Haring's model for an artist who treated mass reproduction, celebrity and commerce as the medium itself. The two met through the downtown scene around 1983 and became close friends; Warhol's Factory logic directly licensed Haring's 1986 Pop Shop on Lafayette Street, where he sold T-shirts and buttons bearing his radiant baby. Haring's mourning portraits and his repeated silkscreened icons both descend from this repetition.
• Influencia Obscura · The Art Spirit by Robert Henri (1923). Henri's collected teaching notes from the Ashcan School were a touchstone Haring returned to repeatedly, quoting and paraphrasing it in his journals as a young artist. Henri's insistence that art is an everyday act of living, that the work should be made for people rather than connoisseurs, and that the artist must trust the first impulse reads like a blueprint for a career spent drawing in public transit stations.
• Local Roots · Untitled (Skull) by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1981). Haring and Basquiat were close friends from the Club 57 and Mudd Club years, both showing in the 1980 Times Square Show and both vaulting from downtown tagging — SAMO© for Basquiat, subway chalk for Haring — into blue-chip galleries within three years. Haring championed Basquiat early, and painted a memorial canvas after his 1988 death. The same downtown moment produced both vocabularies.
• Beyond the Medium · Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (1959). Haring absorbed the Burroughs–Gysin cut-up method at the School of Visual Arts, slicing and rearranging newspaper headlines into fake tabloid posters he fly-posted around Manhattan in 1980 — REAGAN SLAIN BY HERO COP. The idea that meaning could be detonated by recombining mass-media fragments shaped his sign-like iconography. The two later collaborated directly on the Apocalypse portfolio.
• Peer · Truisms by Jenny Holzer (1977). Holzer was fly-posting anonymous aphorisms on Manhattan walls at exactly the moment Haring was chalking subway panels, both treating the unpaid street surface as a direct channel to a non-art audience. Both appeared in the 1980 Times Square Show, the exhibition in a derelict massage parlor that announced this generation, and both later moved the same strategies to LED signs, murals and billboards.
• From the Canon · Crack is Wack by Keith Haring (1986). Painted without permission on a handball court wall beside the FDR Drive in Harlem, this mural got Haring arrested and then officially sanctioned by the city — the clearest case of his method converting illegality into public service. Made as the crack epidemic devastated New York and after his studio assistant's addiction, it shows the activist turn that would culminate in his AIDS-era work.
• Key Collaborator · I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You) by Grace Jones (1986). Haring body-painted Grace Jones for this video and for her appearances with Andy Warhol and photographer Robert Mapplethorpe, wrapping his linear pictographs around a living sculpture. The collaboration realized his ambition to get the drawings off any surface at all and onto moving bodies — a logic continuous with his club backdrops at Paradise Garage and his costume work for dance productions.
• Legacy · Obey Giant / André the Giant Has a Posse by Shepard Fairey (1989). Fairey has repeatedly named Haring as a formative figure, and the Obey campaign is built on the Haring blueprint: a single stark icon repeated across public surfaces until the city learns to read it, then converted into a clothing line that funds the practice. The Pop Shop model — populist price, mass distribution, artist-controlled brand — is the template Fairey scaled worldwide.

What influenced Keith Haring

• William S. Burroughs. Burroughs's use of the cut-up technique inspired Haring's lettering and word-based work. “The cut-up technique in the writings of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin inspired Haring's work with lettering and words.” (Wikipedia)
• Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960). Haring created a tribute painting in memory of Basquiat. (also via Crack Is Wack, Untitled (Skull)) “In memory of the late artist, Haring created the painting A Pile of Crowns for Jean-Michel Basquiat (1988).” (Wikipedia)
• Christo. Haring recalls Christo's lecture and Running Fence while discussing artists who inspired him. (also via Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California) “I was inspired by the writings of Jean Dubuffet, and I remember seeing a lecture by Christo and seeing the film on his work Running Fence .” (Rolling Stone)
• The Art Spirit by Robert Henri (1923). The Art Spirit (Robert Henri) — ghost for Keith Haring “inspired to focus on his own art after reading The Art Spirit (1923) by Robert Henri .” (Wikipedia)
• Pierre Alechinsky. Haring says seeing Alechinsky's work gave him confidence in his own drawings. “I went to a huge retrospective by Pierre Alechinsky at the Carnegie Museum of Art. It was the first time that I had seen someone older and established doing something that was vaguely similar to my little abstract drawings. It gave me th…” (Rolling Stone)
• Bill Beckley. Haring studied semiotics with Beckley. “While attending school he studied semiotics with Bill Beckley and experimented with video and performance art.” (Wikipedia)
• Jesus Movement. The Jesus Movement influenced Haring's art throughout his career. “Haring was deeply influenced by the Jesus Movement as a youth, and it continued to play a role in his art for his entire career.” (Wikipedia)
• Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) by Jackson Pollock (1950). Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) (Jackson Pollock) — titan for Keith Haring “Haring had a maintenance job at the Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center and was able to explore the art of Jean Dubuffet, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Tobey.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Stuart Davis. Haring cited Davis as an influence. “Responding to suggestions that his style was derived from A. R. Penck , Haring instead cited influences including Stuart Davis , Henri Matisse , Andy Warhol , and Pierre Alechinsky .” (Wikipedia)
• Charles Schulz. Charles Schulz is identified as an early influence on Haring. “His early influences included Walt Disney cartoons, Dr. Seuss , Charles Schulz , and the Looney Tunes characters in The Bugs Bunny Show .” (Wikipedia)
• Bobby Breslau. Breslau inspired Haring to use leather hides. “Breslau inspired Haring to work with leather hides and he was the manager of the Pop Shop until his death in 1987.” (Wikipedia)
• Henri Matisse. Haring cited Matisse as an influence. “Responding to suggestions that his style was derived from A. R. Penck , Haring instead cited influences including Stuart Davis , Henri Matisse , Andy Warhol , and Pierre Alechinsky .” (Wikipedia)
• Dr. Seuss (1904). Dr. Seuss is identified as an early influence on Haring. “His early influences included Walt Disney cartoons, Dr. Seuss , Charles Schulz , and the Looney Tunes characters in The Bugs Bunny Show .” (Wikipedia)
• The Cow with the Subtile Nose by Jean Dubuffet (1954). The Cow with the Subtile Nose (Jean Dubuffet) — titan for Keith Haring “Haring had a maintenance job at the Pittsburgh Arts and Crafts Center and was able to explore the art of Jean Dubuffet, Jackson Pollock, and Mark Tobey.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Brion Gysin. Gysin's use of the cut-up technique inspired Haring's lettering and word-based work. “The cut-up technique in the writings of William S. Burroughs and Brion Gysin inspired Haring's work with lettering and words.” (Wikipedia)
• The Bugs Bunny Show. The show's Looney Tunes characters are identified among Haring's early influences. “His early influences included Walt Disney cartoons, Dr. Seuss , Charles Schulz , and the Looney Tunes characters in The Bugs Bunny Show .” (Wikipedia)
• Marilyn Diptych by Andy Warhol (1962). Marilyn Diptych (Andy Warhol) — titan for Keith Haring “In 1982, Haring participated in documenta 7 in Kassel, where his works were exhibited alongside Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• A Theory of Semiotics by Umberto Eco (1975). A Theory of Semiotics (Umberto Eco) — culture for Keith Haring (openlibrary.org)
• Fantasia by Walt Disney (1940). Fantasia (Walt Disney) — culture for Keith Haring “His early influences included Walt Disney cartoons, Dr.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Naked Lunch by William S. Burroughs (1959). Naked Lunch (William S. Burroughs) — culture for Keith Haring (openlibrary.org)
• Central Park. Central Park (Pierre Alechinsky) — ghost for Keith Haring “He was highly influenced around this time by a 1977 retrospective of Pierre Alechinsky's work and by a lecture that the sculptor Christo gave in 1978.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California by Christo and Jeanne-Claude (1976). Running Fence, Sonoma and Marin Counties, California (Christo and Jeanne-Claude) — ghost for Keith Haring (wikidata.org)

Peers and kindred spirits

• Andy Warhol (1928). Warhol and Haring jointly designed a festival poster. (also via Untitled (Boom for Real) / Crack Is Wack, Keith Haring, Marilyn Diptych) “Haring collaborated with Warhol to design the poster for the 1986 Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland.” (Wikipedia)
• Grace Jones. Jones recalls Haring painting directly on her body. (also via I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You)) “Haring painted a skirt for Grace Jones to wear in her music video " I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You) " (1986) and he was the assistant director for the video.” (Wikipedia)
• Bill T. Jones (1952). Jones collaborated with visual artist Keith Haring in 1982. (also via Untitled (Bill T. Jones body painting)) “he met and began collaborating with choreographer Bill T. Jones . Haring used Jones' body as the canvas to paint from head to toe.” (Wikipedia)
• Life Is Something Special by N.Y.C. Peech Boys. Haring illustrated a sleeve for the N.Y.C. Peech Boys release. “As Haring’s first major UK exhibition opens at the Tate Liverpool, we explore some of his seminal record sleeves. NYC Peech Boys Life Is Something Special (Island Records, 1983)” (The Vinyl Factory)
• Duck Rock by Malcolm McLaren (1983). Haring illustrated a sleeve for McLaren's release. “Various Artists Rap It (Celluloid, 1983) Listen Malcolm McLaren Duck Rock (Charisma, 1983) Listen David Bowie ‘Without You’ (EMI America, 1983)” (The Vinyl Factory)
• Someone Like You by Sylvester. Haring illustrated a sleeve for Sylvester's release. “Emanon The Baby Beat Box (Pow Wow Records, 1986) Listen Sylvester ‘Someone Like You’ (Warner Brothers Records, 1986) Listen Bipo Crack is Wack” (The Vinyl Factory)
• Secret Pastures. Keith Haring created the decor for Secret Pastures. “he designed the stage set for the production of Bill T. Jones and Arnie Zane 's Secret Pastures at the Brooklyn Academy of Music .” (Wikipedia)
• Without You by David Bowie. Haring illustrated the sleeve for Bowie's release. “Malcolm McLaren Duck Rock (Charisma, 1983) Listen David Bowie ‘Without You’ (EMI America, 1983) Listen Emanon The Baby Beat Box (Pow Wow Records, 1986)” (The Vinyl Factory)
• The CityKids Foundation. Haring created a banner in conjunction with the foundation. “In 1986, the renowned artist and activist Keith Haring collaborated with The CityKids Foundation and 1000 young people of NYC to create the monumental 'CityKids Speak On Liberty' artwork” (The CityKids Foundation)
• Tseng Kwong Chi. Tseng's photographs of Haring's drawings appeared in Haring's book. (also via East Meets West (Self-Portrait series)) “In 1984, he released a book titled Art in Transit , which featured photography of his subway drawings by Tseng Kwong Chi and an introduction by Henry Geldzahler .” (Wikipedia)
• Tony Abboreno. Abboreno helped execute a mural from Haring's design. “According to Zucker, Haring sent the school a design template for the mural, which was executed by a fellow teacher, Tony Abboreno, an abstract artist , and Wells High School art students, but Haring gave it his final approval and signed…” (Wikipedia)
• Vivienne Westwood (1941). Westwood made textiles for her collection from Haring's drawings. “Haring presented Westwood with two large sheets of drawings and she turned them into textiles for her Autumn/Winter 1983–84 Witches collection.” (Wikipedia)
• Christmas in Hollis by Run-DMC. Haring designed the cover of Run-DMC's single. “Haring designed the cover for the 1987 benefit album A Very Special Christmas and the Run-DMC single " Christmas In Hollis "; proceeds went to the Special Olympics .” (Wikipedia)
• Henry Geldzahler. Geldzahler contributed the introduction to Haring's book. “In 1984, he released a book titled Art in Transit , which featured photography of his subway drawings by Tseng Kwong Chi and an introduction by Henry Geldzahler .” (Wikipedia)
• Stephen Sprouse. Haring and Sprouse designed prints for Sprouse's collection. “Haring collaborated with his friend Stephen Sprouse on designing prints for his Fall 1988 collection.” (Wikipedia)
• I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You) by Grace Jones (1986). I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect for You) (Grace Jones) — collaborator for Keith Haring “In July 1984, he painted singer Grace Jones for the first time for Interview magazine.In 1984, the New York City Department of Sanitation asked Haring to design a logo for their anti-litter campaign.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• David Spada. Haring and Spada designed sculptural adornments together. “Haring collaborated with David Spada , a jewelry designer, to design the sculptural adornments for Jones.” (Wikipedia)
• Pop Shop. The text identifies the opening of Haring's Pop Shop. “In April 1986, Pop Shop opened in SoHo , selling shirts, posters, and other items showcasing Haring's work.” (Wikipedia)
• When the Worlds Collide by Kenny Scharf (1984). When the Worlds Collide (Kenny Scharf) — geography for Keith Haring “=== Friendships === Soon after moving to New York to study at the School of Visual Arts, he became friends with classmates Kenny Scharf (his one-time roommate), Samantha McEwen, and John Sex.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Keith Haring Foundation. Haring established the foundation in 1989. “In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation to provide funding to AIDS organizations and children's programs, as well as to maintain and distribute his artwork.” (Wikipedia)
• Juan Rivera. Haring and Rivera painted the Tower mural together. “Haring and his boyfriend Juan Rivera painted the Tower mural on an 88-foot-high (27 m) exterior stairwell at the Necker-Enfants Malades Hospital .” (Wikipedia)
• A Very Special Christmas. Haring designed the benefit album's cover. “Haring designed the cover for the 1987 benefit album A Very Special Christmas and the Run-DMC single " Christmas In Hollis "; proceeds went to the Special Olympics .” (Wikipedia)
• Angel "LA II" Ortiz. Ortiz became a key collaborator of Haring's. “While painting a frieze at P.S. 22 during the summer of 1981, Haring met graffiti artist Angel "LA II" Ortiz , who would become a key collaborator.” (Wikipedia)
• Madonna (1958). Crack Is Wack (Keith Haring) — geography for Madonna (via Crack Is Wack) “Haring's friend Madonna wore a skirt from the collection, most notably in the music video her 1984 single "Borderline." As Haring rose to stardom he continued to draw in the subways, contrasting the rocketing prices for his work.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Wild Style by Charlie Ahearn (1983). Wild Style (Charlie Ahearn) — geography for Keith Haring (themoviedb.org)
• East Meets West (Self-Portrait series) by Tseng Kwong Chi (1979). East Meets West (Self-Portrait series) (Tseng Kwong Chi) — collaborator for Keith Haring “In 1980, Haring also began organizing exhibitions at Club 57, which were filmed by his close friend, photographer Tseng Kwong Chi.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Truisms by Jenny Holzer (1977). Truisms (Jenny Holzer) — peer for Keith Haring (wikidata.org)
• Untitled (Skull) by Jean-Michel Basquiat (1981). Untitled (Skull) (Jean-Michel Basquiat) — geography for Keith Haring “In 1982, Haring participated in documenta 7 in Kassel, where his works were exhibited alongside Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol.” (en.wikipedia.org)
• Apocalypse by William S. Burroughs (1988). Apocalypse (William S. Burroughs) — collaborator for Keith Haring (openlibrary.org)
• The Death of Graffiti by Lady Pink (1982). The Death of Graffiti (Lady Pink) — peer for Keith Haring (wikidata.org)
• Untitled (I shop therefore I am) by Barbara Kruger (1987). Untitled (I shop therefore I am) (Barbara Kruger) — peer for Keith Haring

Who Keith Haring influenced

• Sticky & Sweet Tour. Madonna incorporated Haring's art into her tour backdrops. “Old School – Madonna tips her hat to her early 80’s downtown New York City dance roots with flashes of Keith Haring and the dance culture vibe of the time including the birth of rap.” (Today In Madonna History)
• Hit the Ground Running. Finn wrote the song in Haring's memory. “Tim Finn wrote the song "Hit The Ground Running", on his album Before & After (1993), in memory of Haring.” (Wikipedia)
• Haring at the Exhibition. Haring is the subject of Ferrero's composition. “Haring is the subject of a composition, Haring at the Exhibition , written and performed by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero in collaboration with DJ Nicola Guiducci.” (Wikipedia)
• COMPANION (Passing Through) by KAWS (2010). COMPANION (Passing Through) (KAWS) — legacy for Keith Haring
• One Beat Pass by Barry McGee (2001). One Beat Pass (Barry McGee) — legacy for Keith Haring
• Obey Giant / André the Giant Has a Posse by Shepard Fairey (1989). Obey Giant / André the Giant Has a Posse (Shepard Fairey) — legacy for Keith Haring