Preview: Keith Haring at Brooklyn Museum

If you’re a fan of Banksy or Shepard Fairey, neither of them would be where they are today without Keith Haring. Before he died in 1990 from AIDS-related complications, Haring had become one of the voices of his generation, as well as a staple of New York City street art and culture.

Keith Haring: 1978-1982, presented at the Brooklyn Museum, is the first large-scale exhibition to explore his early career. Starting when he left his home in Pennsylvania to attend New York’s School of Visual Arts in 1978, and tracing his development over the next four years, the exhibition includes 155 works on paper, seven experimental videos and over 150 archival objects.

The groundbreaking exhibition, on view from March 16 through July 8, includes a number of very early works that have previously never been seen before in public, including sketchbooks, journals, exhibition flyers, posters, subway drawings and documentary photographs.