Keith Allen Haring was born on May 4th, 1958, in Reading, Pennsylvania. He was brought up with three sisters named Kay, Karen, and Kristen. His father, who was very good at drawing taught him how to draw circles when he was very young. He then made these circles into ice cream cones with faces. That's how it all started.
In high school he was loved by all of his art instructors. Many agreed that he was born with a special gift of drawing. His instructors noticed that he had a strong since and love for line. They later said that he worked so intricately, creating patterns that would carry through out and around a piece. It was then that he realized he wanted to be an artist. He was also heavily influenced by cartoonists like Walt Disney, Dr. Seuss, and Charles Schultz. He always wanted to create abstract drawings.
Part of Keith's journey as an artist and as a man was coming to terms with his homosexuality. In his younger years he was very uncomfortable with his feelings, but as he accepted himself for what he is he felt extremely liberated.
In 1978 he moved to New York and enrolled in the School of Visual Arts where he began to immerse himself in the exiting and chaotic world of the New York art scene. Living in a Greenwich apartment he found himself befriending Kenny Scharf and Jean Michel Basquiat, who at that time also had dreams of becoming artists.
One thing that he saw there in the 80's was graffiti. He was blown away by the beauty of the words on the wall. He was also mystified by the drawing skills that the kids on the street had. The way they painted with simple spray cans, the scale, and the fluidity of the line drew Keith's eye. It was the line that he loved since childhood.
After the School of Visual Arts Keith himself began to "tag" on walls. His first signature or "tag" was a little animal. The more he drew it the more it began to look like a dog, so he named it "the dog".