Keith Haring was not a Philadelphian. He was born about an hour away in Reading on May 4, 1958, and raised nearby in Kutztown. Later, Keith skipped over the city of Brotherly Love and lived in Pittsburgh and then New York.
The most Philadelphian thing about Keith, however, is his contribution to the “City of Murals”. Philadelphia became known as such after a 1984 initiative was created intending to redirect graffiti into public arts projects throughout the city. Keith was an artist whose graphic, colorful work focused on humanity, and who helped bring awareness to the AIDS epidemic.
Keith’s “We The Youth” mural was created in 1987 and restored by the Keith Haring Foundation and the Mural Arts Program in 2013. You can visit it in Point Breeze at 22nd Street and Ellsworth, and you can watch a video that documents its creation here.
Happy Birthday, Keith. Thank you for your art.