Keith Haring (1958–1990) was an American artist whose pop art emerged from the New York City graffiti subculture of the 1980s. In 1978, Haring moved to New York to attend the School of Visual Arts, where his graffiti-inspired symbols expanded into large-scale designs of generative energy. In the summer of 1980, he took up drawing, inventing intricate cartoon-style murals of mutant figures locked in hyper-physical engagement. Haring was a meteoric star in American art during the 1980s, exhibiting and working on projects throughout the USA, Europe, and Asia, and his work became a symbol of the tribal undercurrents that permeate metropolitan life. His accessible imagery stems as much from Islamic and Japanese art as the sign language of contemporary culture.

Haring was continuously engaged in projects of an extraordinarily diverse nature, from murals on the Berlin Wall to paintings on hot air balloons, motor cars, and decorative accessories. He participated in the Venice Biennale in 1984 and 1986 and his works are in the collections of major art institutions like the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, and the Andy Warhol Museum.