Keith Haring was an openly gay American artist who was an advocate for safe sex and AIDS awareness; a lot of his works show that. He himself was diagnosed with AIDS back in 1988, which is why he wanted to speak up on the topic of safe sex/AIDS. A little backstory about him: he grew up in Pennsylvania ever since he was born in 1958. in 1978, he decided to move to New York because he wanted it to be his fresh beginning. When he first got to NY, he was very much inspired by the graffiti he saw in the streets and subway and he wanted to do the same and so he started drawing on the boards in the subway using chalk. (he even got arrested whaaaatt) From there, he also made lots of friends, not just in the art scene!!! and he also held exhibitions, gaining a lot of exposure.
Keith Haring drawing using chalk in the subway, 1983
One of his well known artworks for AIDS awareness and activism would be this piece called "Silence=Death" (Silence = Death, 1989, n.d.).
Another one would be "Ignorance=Fear" (Smith-Laing T., 2019, June 17).
he had used the pink triangle ▴ symbol. it was appropriated from the Nazi regime; gay men in concentration camps were denoted by an inverted triangle, signifying their place at the bottom of society.
he also started the Keith Haring Foundation, to help provide funding and support towards not only AIDS research, but also charities and education.
Keith Haring is such an original artist who did not care to define what "art" is. He makes what he likes and decides what cause he wants to pay tribute to. He was also a very versatile artist; from doing public projects in subways and the streets to having his artworks displayed in galleries and museums. He knew how to have fun and to create things that screams "Keith Haring". I think that's really badass and cool, to have your own style and not care about what others think. Be original and be yourself is what his principle was and I could learn a lot from that.
An artist activist that I've taken notice recently is Jeff Hong who identifies himself as an animator/artist.
Jeff is actually an animation storyboard artist from LA. He had created artworks to raise awareness towards environmental and social issues worldwide using Disney characters, called Unhappily Ever After (Unhappily Ever After, n.d.). His works had captured attention from all around the world, with his implementation of pop culture into his art.
I love that he had used the Disney characters and in a way put them into our world. By using pop culture, something that's so significant in this era, it makes people intrigued and want to pay attention. He had used a subject that everyone knows and could relate to, for a good cause, bringing awareness to important environmental and social issues happening everywhere.
Here are some of his artworks:
I looove the idea of implementing pop culture into an artwork. I've certainly done a few placards before and it's true that pop culture attracts attention. Once, I did one referencing a meme that was popular at that time and it received a lot of love and laughs! I like it when people can relate to something even if the context is different. I think it helps them understand better on what my message is.
So yeah, for my placard, I'll definitely keep that in mind: the use of my original idea and the application of pop culture.
Public Projects. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.haring.com/!/genre/public_projects
Silence = Death, 1989. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.haring.com/!/art-work/25
Smith-Laing T., How Keith Haring's art forced us to talk about AIDS. (2019, June 17) Retrieved from https://www.1843magazine.com/culture/cheats-guide/how-keith-harings-art-forced-us-to-talk-about-aids
Unhappily Ever After. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://disneyunhappilyeverafter.tumblr.com/
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