Keith Haring and Japan

On this trip to Japan, Haring was accompanied by young graffiti writer Angel Ortiz known as LA2 (LA II, Little Angel 2), whose talent Haring had discovered, and together they painted a mural on an inside and outside wall of ON SUNDAYS, located next to galerie Watari.

Pop Shop

To communicate with as many people as possible through art, in 1986, Keith Haring opened his first Pop Shop in downtown, New York, where his original goods were sold and 2 years later a second Pop Shop in Tokyo. His original goods, embodying his various messages and concepts, one can call them extension of his art.

Collaborating with Children

In Octorber 1987, he held a workshop with children in the outer area of Tokyo, in Tama City. The event helped commemorate the opening of the Tama City Combined Cultural Center (Parthenon Tama), which was constructed as a palace of art in Tama New Town ― the largest housing development of postwar Japan. Several hundred children between the ages of 6 and 8 gathered in the outdoor event space. Keith’s human figures were painted on six panels, and the children used them as the base to create their own drawings. Another project was called the Sound-Fruit-Project: Wooden objects were designed by Keith, upon which children hung their hand-painted bells, everyone contributing their prayers for peace. This work is currently owned by the Tama City Cultural Foundation.

“Peace” and “My Town” (1987, Property of the Tama City Cultural Foundation)

Exhibition at the Nakamura Keith Haring Collection (2017)

"We got to the ceramic manufacture’s studio (in Nagoya) around six o’clock. We were supposed to take two hours to choose the shapes of rice bowls I wanted to do and paint some samples. I end up taking about four hours, but I painted four small rice bowls and two large ones (with kids). Some I did with figurative patterns that made the rice bowls look more African or Indian than Japanese, and some I did with real simple fish paintings. The more I painted the more I learned how to control the glaze pigment on the clay surface, the more “into it” I got, the less I wanted to leave.*1

Keith Haring

Haring responding to an interview held in front of shipping containers that were to become the as-yet unfinished Pop Shop Tokyo.

We decide to go with tradition and have people remove their shoes before entering the shop. I design Keith Haring Slippers, which they wear in the shop.*2

Keith Haring

Hiroshima Peace Project

In August 1988, there was a project proposed to create a mosaic drawing on the walls of the Hiroshima City Honkawa Elementary School, located on the opposite shore of Ota River (Honkawa), which flows alongside the Hiroshima Peace Memorial. Unfortunately, the mural was unable to be realized, but the same year, Haring was commissioned to create the poster for the Hiroshima Peace Concert, “Peace is the best, no doubt about it!!”,
He visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, witnessed the tragedy and wrote in his diary, “This must never happen again.”



”He was very eager and asked me to guide him around every morning, and he even wanted to bring his own materials for the mural project.”
－Yoshiaki Hanazawa of Picasso Gabo who attended to Haring for 3 days