Keith Haring is one of those artistic figures I was more aware of due to their massive influence on pop culture and the constant presence of their designs more than the individual themselves, so I'm the prime audience for a documentary like this. It's very well made and provides a definitive and thorough look at his life and art, aptly covering the gay scene of the time and the communities and events that influenced his style of art and rise to fame.

I wasn't aware that Haring was gay before watching the documentary and was surprised by how explicit some of his drawings were and how outrageous his personality seemed from his friend's anecdotes. For some reason, I associate his work as being very child friendly, which was proven quite wrong as there's some very sexual drawings covering very mature themes. His influences were also really interesting to see as they're extremely varied. Keith took inspiration from seemingly everywhere (most intriguingly black street culture and William S Burroughs). The collected archival footage and interviews are employed well to give an authentic portrait of Haring’s life immersing you in the time effortlessly through polaroids and grainy film.

It paints a portrait of a queer progressive constantly moving forward. Proud of his sexuality and determined to raise awareness of the AIDS crisis, constantly trying his hardest to provide artistic opportunity for the underprivileged and ultimately attempting to tear down the elitist walls of the art community and make it accessible for all. Keith Haring may have died tragically early, but it didn't stop him from leaving a legacy big enough for ten other people.

Written by Isaac Holmes