Keith Haring Communicating Through Cartoons Essay

As children we find entertainment in cartoons. Such simple shapes and figures provide hours of amusement watching them do trivial tasks like drive cars and go to work. What if they represented more than just a Sunday morning or brief entertainment? What was Disney really trying to say? For artists like Keith Haring, cartoons become his way of communicating with people about what he thought was important and needed to be heard. Haring used cartoon figures in a powerful way within his work. Keith Haring was born May 4, 1958 in Reading Pennsylvania.1 He grew up in the small town of Kutztown, Pennsylvania with his mother, father and three younger sisters. At a young age his father taught him how to draw; he encouraged Haring to create his†¦show more content†¦Haring never planned out his work more than just in his head; he would look at his canvas or wall and start to make lines and shapes that all fit together. Haring was a young homosexual man that wanted his work to convey hi s feelings; he used these shapes to express himself so in many of his pieces there was phallic shapes.4 these shapes were an important part of his work emotionally, but they did not take over all his art. With the support of other artist, like Andy Warhol, Haring was able to expand his work in both style and area that it is seen. Haring did a murals, sculptures and shows all round the world for churches, hospitals, landmarks, and charities. In 1986 he made the famous Crack is Wack mural in New York.1 April of that same year he opened the Pop Shop in New York City; this was a store that sold shirts, toys, posters, and many other things that had images that Haring created on them. The Pop Shop was meant to get art out into more homes and to expose more people that would normally not go to museums or galleries.2 Haring was very interested in teaching kids about art; he would give workshops on drawing at museums and schools for children. In 1986 he worked on a mural for the 100th annive rsary for the Statue of Liberty with a group of 900