Radiant Keith Haring

In an era obsessed with “personal brands,” a recent walk through a Keith Haring ‘Radiant Vision’ exhibit served as a reminder that creative identities aren’t invented spontaneously. They emerge from the work artists return to again and again. 

Keith Haring was trained in art school, and like every artist worked to develop his personal style, forging a niche fascination with the study of symbols. This interest led him to develop his own visual lexicon of pictograms: barking dogs, radiant babies, grinning faces, and glowing TVs. He took these icons to the street and began drawing them on blank New York City subway advertising panels, an early nod to his eventual commercial success. 

The subway drawings refined and crystallized his brand. The environment forced speed and simplicity and exposed his work to thousands of viewers every day. Haring received real-time feedback as the public stopped to ask questions, make comments, and take photos. Soon enough the public wasn’t satisfied with only casual access to his work, and began ripping them down to sell the drawings or keep them for themselves, proving an enthusiastic market existed for his work. 

Haring’s unmistakable style made him a brand, one that bridged two worlds: the gritty downtown counterculture he came from, and the uptown art aristocracy. He became the realization of Andy Warhol’s Pop Art movement, unabashedly marketing his brand through commercial partnerships. Brands flocked to be associated with Haring. He painted racecars, made Swatch watches, and promoted Adidas sneakers, Honda minivans, and Absolut vodka. He launched countless for-profit ventures including a storefront selling toys, watches, clothing, and all manner of merch; commercial success always balanced by non-profit philanthropy and activism. 

Haring leaves a blueprint for defining our own brands. Through following his innate curiosities, embracing messy visibility, and experimenting in public, he discovered the thing that became his calling card. He didn’t design a brand on day one; he recognized a visual language that worked and allowed it to scale over time.