COOPERSTOWN, NY.- On Saturday, May 29, Fenimore Art Museum in Cooperstown opens its summer season with one of the most exciting exhibitions to arrive in upstate New York in years. Keith Haring: Radiant Vision (May 29–September 6, 2021) celebrates both the icon and his iconography in this energized show that introduces a new generation to Keith Haring.

Museum admission is free for visitors age 19 and under during the run of the exhibition. (Made possible through a generous donation by Mr. Gary Cassinelli and Mr. Nick Preston.)

Examine different aspects of Haring’s life and career including his subway drawings and street art, gallery shows, the Pop Shop, and his commercial work. Featuring more than 100 works from a private collection, the exhibition includes lithographs, silkscreens, drawings on paper, and posters, and details the full arc of Haring's short but prolific career.

Visitors will instantly recognize seminal images like “Radiant Baby”—images that permeated American culture in the 1980s and became emblematic of the time. The images are powerful examples of how Haring fought for change using art as a platform for activism. In its entirety, the exhibition serves as a tribute to this iconic artist and his dedication to social justice and the betterment of youth worldwide.




This project is supported by a Market New York grant awarded to Fenimore Art Museum from I LOVE NY/New York State’s Division of Tourism as part of the Regional Economic Development Council initiative.

Keith Haring: Radiant Vision is traveled by Pan Art Connections, Inc.

Keith Haring (1958–1990) was arguably the most accomplished and prominent American artist of the 1980s. During the course of his brief ten-year career, Haring rewrote the rulebook for contemporary art, integrating the seemingly disparate arenas of New York City’s gritty downtown counterculture and uptown art aristocracy.

Despite working in a variety of mediums—including paintings, prints, posters, drawings, sculptures, and street art—Haring’s style was instantly recognizable. Bold lines, pictographic symbols, and vibrant colors abounded in every piece he made. A friend of Andy Warhol, Haring represented the apotheosis of Pop Art, unabashedly exploring the marketing potential of his “brand” through commercial partnerships, mass market products, and even his own storefront. Yet Haring’s work went beyond commercialization by reflecting the artist’s fervent activism and democratic beliefs. He spent his career making posters, public art, and charitable commissions in support of nuclear de-escalation, civil rights, child welfare, and AIDS aware-ness, among other vital efforts. These causes informed his murals and massive wall paintings, leading one prominent critic to liken his work to “contemporary history paintings” chronicling the major social justice issues of the late twentieth century. Success offered Haring an “entry pass to the world” and he used it to reconnect with the public, collaborating with neighborhood kids while championing the idea that art should belong to everyone.

Keith Haring’s career may have been brief—spanning a mere ten years between his departure from art school and his untimely death—but its impact cannot be under-estimated. In one short decade, Haring managed to completely upend preconceptions about art, value, access, and activism. His art was the intersecting point for fashion, dance, music, and graphic design. Haring was enthralled by the counterculture energy in the graffiti, rap, and breakdancing scenes of the 1980s. His masterful cross-pollination of both worlds is a testament to the force of his captivating personality and creative vision. Haring helped consecrate new genres of art. Sold by galleries and exhibited by museums world-wide, his work sparked an academic and commercial appetite for street art, paving the way for celebrated successors such as Banksy, Swoon, and Shepard Fairey. At the same time, the Pop Shop influenced the market in reverse, restoring Haring’s now sought-after art to the public via affordable clothing and goods.

Perhaps most keenly felt, however, is Haring’s legacy as a humanitarian. A passionate advocate for social justice, he established the Keith Haring Foundation in 1989. Today, in his honor, the Foundation continues to fight for child welfare and lobby for care, education, and research surrounding AIDS. As Haring accurately foretold in 1987, “I’m sure when I die, I won’t really die, because I live [on] in many people.”