How Keith Haring’s art transcended critics, bigotry and a merciless virus

Book Review Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring By Brad Gooch HarperCollins: 512 pages, $40 If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores. “Within the next five years, he would make more than five thousand chalk drawings throughout New York City’s five boroughs,” Gooch writes, “realizing one of the largest public art projects ever conceived.” Gooch draws on Haring’s prolific journals, which reveal a passionate but pragmatic young artist. “Keith was heroic in having gay content in his work,” poet John Giorno said, at a time “when we all know that being a gay artist is the kiss of death.” Haring memorably advocated safe sex during the AIDS epidemic, with images of condoms and messages such as “Safe Sex or No Sex.” While modern audiences might be more likely to understand the import of these themes, many critics at the time discounted Haring’s work as “fast food,” as one put it, adding, “It’s a good time, it’s boogieing on a Saturday night, it’s alive, but great, no.” One curator blamed Haring’s commercial appeal for the reluctance to take his art seriously, saying, “I think Haring was so successful that other artists could not forgive him.” Gallerist Jeffrey Deitch pointed out that most artists enjoying Haring’s level of financial success would have been churning out even more sellable work. Gooch describes his subject’s death with intention: “Keith Haring lived until 4:40 a.m. on February 16, 1990.” We all die; Haring lived as fully as he could for as long as he could. Gooch’s “Radiant” has given us a more vibrant and complete picture of the enduring gifts of Keith Haring’s life.