Exhibitions: Keith Haring: 1978–1982

To reach as many people as possible, Haring realized, he needed to find channels beyond the conventional venues of galleries and museums. In 1978 he ventured into New York’s public spaces for the first time, taping fragments of his paintings to trashcans, lampposts, kiosks, and gates and then photographing them. When placed around the city, Haring’s painting fragments interacted with the colors and textures of their urban surroundings. Haring pioneered new forms of public art by creating art in the streets and by giving his images away in the form of buttons, photocopied posters, and flyers such as the one pictured here.