SOON TO BE A TV SERIES WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY ANDREW HAIGH New York Times Book Critics
Favorite Book of the Year · Washington Post Notable Book of the Year “It’s all here: the grade
school Walt Disney and Dr. Seuss the adolescent acid trips the fondness for Post-it notes and
flying saucers the long tails of Dubuffet and Burroughs the encounters with Madonna Warhol
and one game-changer of a subway Johnny Walker Red poster. Brad Gooch takes us deep into Keith
Haring’s imagination while somehow managing to fix the aura and energy of the 1980s New York
art scene to the page. A keen-eyed beautifully written biography atmospheric exuberant and
as radiant as they come.”—Stacy Schiff Pulitzer Prize winning author of The Revolutionary:
Sam Adams A stunning life of the iconic American artist Keith Haring by the acclaimed
biographer Brad Gooch. In the 1980s the subways of New York City were covered with art. In the
stations black matte sheets were pasted over outdated ads and unsigned chalk drawings often
popped up on these blank spaces. These temporary chalk drawings numbered in the thousands and
became synonymous with a city as diverse as it was at war with itself beset with poverty and
crime but alive with art and creative energy. And every single one of these drawings was done
by Keith Haring. Keith Haring was one of the most emblematic artists of the 1980s a figure
described by his contemporaries as “a prophet in his life his person and his work.” Part of
an iconic cultural crowd that included Andy Warhol Madonna and Basquiat Haring broke down
the barriers between high art and popular culture creating work that was accessible for all
and using it as a means to provoke and inspire radical social change. Haring died of AIDS in
1990. To this day his influence on our culture remains incontrovertible and his glamorous
tragically short life has a unique aura of mystery and power. Brad Gooch noted biographer of
Flannery O’Connor and Frank O’Hara was granted access to Haring’s extensive archive. He has
written a biography that will become the authoritative work on the artist. Based on interviews
with those who knew Haring best and drawing from the rich archival history Brad Gooch sets out
to capture the magic of Keith Haring: a visionary and timeless icon.
