Love and Safe Sex

After completing my artist study project about Keith Haring, I made the decision to put my own twist on his work. Rather than replicating a piece of his, I compiled a few of my favorite pieces Haring made in his lifetime. This piece incorporates pastel colors, as well as a few deep, cool colors. (The pieces I used will be linked below.) I tried my hardest to maintain the linework and simplicity of Haring’s work, but remembering that I wanted to make a tribute to him, in a way.

To complete this piece, I used acrylic paint, a store-bought canvas, Sharpie marker, and paint brushes (soft and medium bristle). I first traced the pieces I wanted to incorporate in pencil, then began to think about color choices. At first, I wanted to use bold colors, but soon realized I don’t often like working with them. Pieces I’ve done in the past have indeed included darker colors, but my favorite pieces almost always have pastels in them.

I struggled with this piece quite often. I wanted to also incorporate his “Ignorance=fear” piece, however, I still have trouble with painting words. I was able to paint “safe sex” on the canvas since it was a more abstract font. Unfortunately, you can still see the black marker at the top of the canvas where I made the attempt to write “ignorance=fear.” To cover this to the best of my ability, I made yellow and white spike-like brush stroke marks. There’s also pencil marks in some spots that I was unable to erase.

Keith Haring connects to my life in a more distant sense. He was a gay man living in the 80s with AIDS. He had an abstract, but simple artistic style. Many people know that the 80s was time where HIV/AIDS had an “outbreak,” for lack of a better term. Here I am, a queer female living in the 21st century, with a ever-changing artistic style. Times have changed- we still have homophobia, but it wasn’t a blatant fear to touch someone with AIDS, or be near a gay person. Not only does Haring inspire me with his pieces, but his activism for the LGBT+ community was executed in a subtle, but powerful way.

Overall, I’m most proud of the entire piece. Keith Haring has been a favorite of mine for a long time. (I’m going to college in his hometown!) I really like how I was able to make the characters in the piece pop out by using dark, cool colors. This gave a nice contrast against the warm, pastel background. I also like that I used sharpie to do the outlines instead of black acrylic paint. I feel as though the marker gives a bold, clean line. This piece has to be the best I’ve ever produced. I appreciate my color palette, as well as image choices. I’ve been in an artistic-rut as of late, so this is a huge accomplishment for me. I hope I can continue to grow as I move on in life.