Keith Haring Subway Murals

I moved into New York City in the early 1980s and lived on the Upper East Side. I remember the day I came off the subway at the 86th & Lexington Street station to a growing number of animated figures drawn on the spaces where movie posters are placed. (Back then, between replacing movie posters, they would black them out first thus making the perfect canvas). Down the station platform was a young man, skinny, glasses and busy doing his thing. I remember thinking how free he seemed to be as he drew each figure, his hand flowing with the white piece of chalk. People passing by not taking the time to stop as if not wanting to particpate in some unmentionable form of graffiti. However, I was amazed and watched him often, coming across his art work at various subway stations throughout the city. The man was the emerging pop artist, Keith Haring. He was a kind, quiet and intense person who seemed to be lost in his own world as he sketched those now famous figures on the black subway wall canvas. An experience that I will remember all my life.