1980s Keith Haring mural being recreated

updated 6:01 p.m. ET April 27, 2008

NEW YORK - Artist Keith Haring’s first major outdoor project existed just a few months. Now the 1980s street mural is being reborn.

A gallery and a foundation that represent Haring, who died from AIDS in 1990, have hired a team of artists to recreate the mural in celebration of the 50th anniversary of his birth.

The untitled Day-Glo pink, orange and green mural was first made on a freestanding slab of concrete near Manhattan’s Houston Street and the Bowery in 1982. The artwork lasted until it began to fade and Haring painted over it to prevent it from further decomposition.

“For people like myself who were around in the early ’80s, this Houston Street mural remains a landmark,” said Jeffrey Deitch, of Deitch Projects, the gallery that is one of the sponsors of the artwork’s rebirth. The Keith Haring Foundation is also a sponsor.

Artists will use photographs of the mural and paint samples recovered from scraping away graffiti at the site to replicate the design and color-match the paint Haring used.

The reborn mural is expected to be completed for the May 4 celebration of Haring’s birth.

MORE FROM THE ARTS

French man pleads guilty in art theft case

French man pleads guilty in art theft case Three sketches by Goya sell for $8 million Wax museum in Berlin features Hitler Francis Bacon self-portraits fetch $34.5 million Spanish museum doubts Goya painted ‘Giant’ Armed robbers steal 2 Picasso prints in Brazil African AIDS victims show stories — in pictures Henry Darger's disturbing tales 'Bad painting' on display at Austrian museum Museum guard caught defacing painting   Add The Arts headlines to your news reader: