Keith Haring was an artist and social activist whose work responded to the New York City street culture of the 1980s.
He was born in Reading, Pennsylvania but grew up in nearby Kutztown, where he lived until he moved to Pittsburgh in 1976 to attend art school. In 1978, he moved to New York City, where he found success within the pop art scene, and later became an avid social activist in the midst of the AIDS crisis. In 1990, Haring tragically succumbed to complications related to the illness at the age of 31.
In spite of his worldwide fame, Haring always stayed true to his roots, often referring to himself as “Keith from Kutztown.”
Haring’s lifelong philosophy was that art belongs to the people and in public, not kept away in exclusive galleries, and “Untitled (Figure Balancing on Dog)” is one of the greatest attestations of the legacy he hoped to leave behind.
