Although invariably, and undeniably, tied to New York graffiti art of the 1980s, Keith Haring's (1958-1990) work represents a much more complex combination of primitive impulses, automatic writing, popular culture, and so-called "high" and "low" art.

Born on May 4, 1958, Keith Haring was raised in a traditional middle-class family in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. He would later remember fondly the creative drawing sessions he and his father, an amateur artist, would have together. Haring's early influences were not unlike those of many American children growing up in the 1960s-the cartoons of Walt Disney, Dr. Seuss, Charles Schulz, and the Looney Tunes characters he would watch Saturday morning television's "The Bugs Bunny Show," television sitcoms such as "I Dream of Jeannie" and "The Monkees," and the observe powerful images in Life and Look magazines. These influences reflect the dominant role, emphasized by the Pop artists of the period, that mass media and...