Keith Haring is of course one of the leading lights of pop art in the 1980’s, paving the way for the street art revolution of the 1990’s.

His friends and mentors included Basquiat and Warhol, Madonna and Yoko Ono and his work reflects the dominant cultural tropes of the era. Waring’s career was incandescent yet cut short, he died of AIDS related illnesses in 1990.

This piece was in Haring’s first exhibition in the UK at the Tate, it succinctly drives home the artist’s unique, much aped style, and his marriage of serious activism and humour. The image was created as a poster for the Crackdown on Crack concert on 31 October 1986 in New York, which saw the likes of Crosby, Stills & Nash, The Allman Brothers Band and Santana perform in a bid to help combat the crack epidemic in the city. As with much of Haring’s work, it mixes playfulness, humour and bold colours with a serious message.