The church altar in New York designed by Keith Haring
New York City might evoke images of yellow taxis, skyscrapers and streetside hot dogs, but the city is also illustrated by the incredible pop art of Keith Haring. Despite being born in Pennsylvania, Keith Haring left his mark on the city of New York more than most, combining the city’s rich history of pop art with the revolutionary stylings of the graffiti movement. Shortly before his tragic death in 1990, Haring bestowed one last gift on the city that had fostered his artistic brilliance.
While pop art progenitors that had gone before him had used silk screens and galleries to tell their stories, Haring was distinctly less pretentious. Much of his early work was displayed not in the art galleries of the upper-west side but in the subway stations and train depots of the city. That was one of the things that made Haring such an endearing figure within the world of art: his work was accessible, unpretentious and yet incredibly thought-provoking. He perfectly toed the line between graffiti and high art.
As his career progressed, with Haring becoming more recognisable, he was accepted into the upper echelon of New York’s art scene, suddenly finding himself rubbing shoulders with the likes of Andy Warhol, Gerhard Richter and Jean-Michel Basquiat. Nevertheless, Haring never forgot his roots in the subways and side-streets of Manhattan.
Throughout the 1980s, Haring seemed to become an irreplaceable part of New York’s cultural DNA, with the streets and galleries awash with his instantly recognisable work. The artist had become a global phenomenon, and yet he was still painting wall murals in the East Village, ever dedicated to his ultimate goal of “getting the work out to the public at large”. Such was the breadth of Haring’s work in the city, and the murals and paintings he had done during his heyday are still being uncovered to this day. Hidden behind layers of paint and wallpaper or forgotten within abandoned gallery spaces, there is a wealth of original Haring material still revealing itself decades after his passing.
Tragically, the artist was cut down in his prime, passing away in February 1990 as a result of AIDS. As a prominent figure in the LGBTQ+ community of New York, Haring had spent the years and months prior to his death tirelessly attempting to raise awareness for the disease, which was ravaging communities across the nation and, indeed, the world.
Despite his illness, Haring remained prolific in his output right until the very end. In his later years, he constructed many murals and artworks with themes surrounding the plight of AIDS, once saying, “My life is my art, it’s intertwined. When AIDS became a reality in terms of my life, it started becoming a subject in my paintings. The more it affected my life the more it affected my work.”
Keith’s final work was entitled The Life of Christ, a stunning reminder of the artist’s dedication to love, joy and hope for tomorrow. The piece itself is an altar constructed from bronze with a white gold leaf patina. Haring made nine editions of the piece, all of which are housed in various churches and museums around the globe. The most notable, however, stands on the altar of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the New York cathedral in which the artist’s memorial was held.
