"The Collection: Keith Haring," now on view at Phoenix Art Museum through July 20, celebrates the relationship between the pop artist and the museum in the 1980s, and features exquisite works by Haring, including a turquoise and ochre yellow aluminum pyramid emblazoned with Haring’s figures, prints and archival materials documenting the artist’s work in the Valley.
Phoenix Art Museum began a relationship with Haring at the height of the artist’s fame in 1986 and over the next several years, Haring visited Phoenix to lead mural workshops for the local community and create art here in the desert.
Public murals, community outreach, social justice and AIDS activism are all themes that run throughout Haring’s artwork and life. Haring is known for his bright pop art style, bold colors and simple yet expressive figures. His legacy has only grown since his passing.
At a time when the current political administration is persecuting the queer community and cutting funding for continued AIDS and HIV research, Haring’s life and art act as both a reminder of past struggles, the importance of continued visibility for marginalized communities and the ongoing challenge of combatting HIV/AIDS
Haring died from AIDS-related complications in 1990, before he could finish an exhibition he was mounting with the museum titled "Haring, Warhol, Disney." Over 30 years later, Haring’s art and legacy is as vibrant as ever.
Phoenix New Times spoke with The Selig Family Chief Curator Olga Viso on Haring’s friendship with the Phoenix Art Museum through the decades, the importance of Haring’s legacy as an AIDS activist, how art can bring visibility to marginalized communities and social justice issues, and public murals remaining a vibrant part of Phoenix’s cityscape.

"The Collection: Keith Haring" is on display at Phoenix Art Museum through July 20.
Phoenix Art Museum
Phoenix New Times: How did this Haring exhibit come about? Both the initial exhibit planned in the 1980s, as well as the current one?
Olga Viso: The idea for "The Collection: Keith Haring" started after a staff presentation by PhxArt archivist Aspen Reynolds. She shared images and ephemera from the archive of Haring’s visit to Phoenix in 1986, which is a fascinating piece of PhxArt history that we wanted to share with our audiences. "Pyramid" was already on view as part of "Guarding the Art: A Frontline Perspective." This exhibition was curated by 13 guest curators from the museum’s security, event-rentals and retail services teams, with the Haring piece selected by security dispatch officer Juan Jose Oliveros Saldaña.
In 1985, Keith Haring formed a friendship and collaboration with the Museum’s then-curator of 20th-century art, Bruce Kurtz. At Kurtz’s invitation, Haring was a featured artist in the 1986 exhibition "American Art of the 1980s," for which he also designed marketing materials. They continued their collaboration through the conceptualization of the 1991 exhibition "Haring, Warhol, Disney," organized by Phoenix Art Museum.
Haring passed away from AIDS-related complications on Feb. 16, 1990, while the exhibition was in development. It opened as a tribute on March 23, 1991, and reached nearly 50,000 visitors in its seven-week run — at that time, the largest crowds the Museum had ever seen.
What is the importance of continuing to remember Haring’s legacy as an AIDS activist, especially as the Trump administration cuts funding for AIDS and HIV research?
As part of our larger mission to create spaces of exchange and belonging, PhxArt regularly presents an array of artworks spanning continents, disciplines and historical periods, created by artists exploring wide-ranging topics through their practices. These works are presented with the goal of educating our audiences about the ways artists throughout time have viewed our world, chosen to depict historical events, conveyed personal emotions and interrogated defining social and political moments and their potential outcomes.
Like many other artists throughout history, Haring’s practice engaged with pressing events of his time. He was known for bringing art out of museums and onto the streets, creating numerous public works for charities, orphanages, children’s daycare centers and hospitals, among other organizations. Following his own AIDS diagnosis in 1988, amid the ongoing AIDS epidemic, Haring turned his artistic focus to expanding awareness around HIV/AIDS.
In 1989, he established the Keith Haring Foundation, which remains active today, sustaining Haring’s legacy by supporting nonprofits that help children. He also supported organizations involved in AIDS-related education, prevention, and care.
What is the importance of art as activism? How does art encourage viewers to enlarge their own awareness to social injustices through art?
Artists across centuries, geographies and cultures have used their practices to reflect on, question and examine the defining topics of their time, often in thought-provoking and unique ways. This has included exploring personal and collective identity, the relationship between history and the present and visions of the future.
During challenging moments when societies are grappling with divisiveness, grief, confusion, fear and other complex emotions, art provides a space for viewers to consider and reflect on these subjects, often forging unexpected connections among those viewers.
We see this frequently in the Museum’s galleries — seemingly unalike individuals or groups of people gather around an artwork and find common ground or points of connection in the process. In those moments, devoid of the pressures of external opinions and input, deep reflection and contemplation occurs, conversations begin and mutual understanding develops where it may not have existed before.
Why was Haring’s work as a public muralist — making free artwork for public communities — so important?
At the core of Haring’s practice was the idea that art is for everybody. This concept was seen through his murals, the Pop Shop and his early drawings in subway stations in New York City.
How is the public mural a positive reflection of a community’s identity?
Public murals can shape public spaces by creating beauty in urban environments and engaging the communities in which they are located. They can foster a deeper sense of connection, raising awareness of social issues and celebrating cultural heritage.
Phoenix today has many beautiful public murals and artworks. What are some of your favorites? And do you see any connection to Haring’s legacy in these?
During his 1986 visit, Haring painted a mural with 25 students from South Mountain High School. Kurtz remembered the project as “a statement of faith in Phoenix, a public declaration of confidence in the next generation.” We do not know if any of the students in attendance went on to create more murals, but we can see the influx of public art since Haring’s visit with so many on Roosevelt Row and the Oak Street Mural project.