NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - Mar 30, 2017) - Elie Hirschfeld recently expanded his art collection with the acquisition of an original work by Mr. Keith Haring, called Radiant Baby. Elie Hirschfeld and his wife Sarah Hirschfeld have always admired the vibrancy, energy and diversity that continually surge through every street, avenue, park and subway of New York City. He has an enduring appreciation for the work of Keith Haring, a groundbreaking artist that is associated with transformative times in the city.

Radiant Baby was created in the mid-1980s on a steel New York City subway sign in Bowery station. The Bowery Street Station was near the center of the 70s downtown art scene and the metro was no stranger to graffiti; artists' tags were placed on every surface, nook and cranny. Keith Haring's career began in the underground metro system below the city of New York where he used chalk to tag the Subway cards and signs. The station sign was tagged by Haring who used two of his most celebrated tags "Radiant Baby" and "Aids Alligator."

"Radiant Baby" also known as "Radiant Child" or "Radiant Christ" had religious auspices derived from the Jesus Movement popular in the 70s. Although Haring's affiliation with the group ended swiftly, the baby's influence on his work was everlasting. Haring has likened "Radiant Baby" to the purest and most positive experience of human existence."

Even now, more than twenty years after his death, Keith Haring remains a symbol of New York City's street art scene. Haring came to New York to study at the School of Visual Arts in 1978 and quickly became immersed in the city's alternative art scene, befriending Jean-Michel Basquiat, Kenny Scharf and Andy Warhol. While he experimented with video, installation, collage and performance art, his true talent lay in his line paintings.

Over time, he came to be known for his distinctive style using bold, heavy lines, simple shapes and figures, and bright colors. In the '80s, Haring gained international recognition, but he never stopped giving back to the community, creating many public murals around the world.

Keith Haring joined a long but sporadic lineage of twentieth century artists who brought elements of popular culture, "low art" and non-art elements into the formerly exclusive "high art" spaces of museums and galleries.

He drew on the techniques and locales of street-based art such as graffiti and murals, employed bright and artificial colors, and kept imagery accessible in order to grab the eyes and minds of viewers and get them both to enjoy themselves and to engage with important concerns.

Elie Hirschfeld says, "Keith Haring unifies many layers of New York City's culture -- both the refined and gritty, the cultivated, edified and self-taught. The energy carried through his artwork is unmatched. Sarah and I will always treasure the work of Keith Haring that we recently added to our collection."

About Elie Hirschfeld
Elie Hirschfeld serves as President of Hirschfeld Properties, LLC, a leading New York-based real estate development firm. Under the leadership of Elie Hirschfeld, Hirschfeld Properties has engaged in the development or ownership of some of the most renowned office buildings, hotels, multi-family residential buildings, parking facilities and retail projects in New York City. It has developed projects such as luxury residential towers Park Avenue Plaza, The Gotham and The Exchange, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Hotel Pennsylvania, New York's first open-air parking garages, Manhattan Mall and the Sports Club LA Building.

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