Explore the Background of this artwork.
Raised in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, Haring moved to New York City to attend the School of Visual Arts in 1978. By the early 1980s, he was drawing graffiti in the New York City Subway, which led to him receiving exhibitions at art galleries. Between 1982 and 1989, Haring created more than 50 public works internationally.Haring was openly gay and when the AIDS epidemic in the U.S. began, he used his work to advocate for safe sex. He was diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in 1987. He told Rolling Stone in 1989: "AIDS has made it even harder for people to accept, because homosexuality has been made to be synonymous with death. It's a justifiable fright with people that are just totally uninformed and therefore ignorant." In 1989, he created the Keith Haring Foundation to provide funding for AIDS organizations and children's programs. Haring died of AIDS-related complications on February 16, 1990.
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