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"Combining elements from the [African Diaspora|http://www.niica.on.ca/diaspora/] with his own symbology," Basquiat developed "his own unique artistic style," continues the Brooklyn Museum's chronologist. Basquiat's form and "pictorial strategy," writes Hoffman, reflect concerns with "dualities" -- the personal and social/political, the spiritual and the concrete, life and death, change and stasis, as well as "wealth versus poverty, integration versus [segregation|http://remembersegregation.org/], and [inner versus outer experience|http://www.wildmind.org/walking/stages/outer]." The themes of Basquiat's works are fitting for the medium of [public art|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_art]. He works out his inner dialogs in a public format, effectively bridging the divide between the internal and the external, and bringing others into the conversation in his head. Street art provided him with a medium for integration in form, and the content of his art, some of which exposes the fallacies of racial segregation, for instance, supported the artistic strategy. Basquiat's form paralleled the medium he employed in yet another way: His "practice of crossing out words and images," which indicated his "\[refusal\] to be identified with the limiting, transitory nature of his own life experience" (Hoffman), emulated the fleeting quality of street art itself, a theme that continues to this day to captivate the artists who practice it.

It was this experience that propelled Haring to open the [Pop Shop|http://www.pop-shop.com/drupal/?utm_source=haring&utm_medium=website&utm_campaign=haring-home] in 1986. A retail store located in New York City's [SoHo District|http://www.sohonyc.com/], the Pop Shop sold "[T-shirts|http://shop.ebay.com/i.html?_nkw=keith+haring+t+shirt], [toys|http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&keywords=keith%20haring&rh=i%3Atoys%2Ck%3Akeith%20haring&page=1], [posters|http://www.art.com/gallery/id--a82/keith-haring-posters.htm?RFID=571502&keyword=Haring+posters&KWID=873927715&CTID=1087188660], [buttons|http://busybeaverbuttons.wordpress.com/2010/06/07/keith-haring-buttons-up/], [magnets|http://www.cafepress.com/+keith-haring+magnets]," and other paraphernalia "bearing \[Haring's\] images." Haring looked upon his shop as "an extension of his work" and his philosophy: it was "intended to allow people greater access to his work, which was now readily available on products at a low cost," explains his web site biographer. It was a place where "not only collectors could come, but also kids from the [Bronx|http://www.nyc.gov/portal/site/nycgov/menuitem.02d9ee26d69924f6a62fa24601c789a0]" ([Jade Dellinger|http://www.amazon.com/Jade-Dellinger/e/B002YRFBNS], ["Art and Commerce"|http://www.haring.com/cgi-bin/essays.cgi?essay_id=15]). The Pop Shop was [subject to criticism|http://hyperallergic.com/27249/david-lachapelle-lecture/] from those in the art world who questioned whether it represented a turn toward the [commercialization of art|http://hyperallergic.com/3415/street-art-politics-commercialization/]. But in that respect it was hardly different from high-end galleries and auctions -- except for the demographical constitution of the population it catered to. Haring maintained that the aesthetic quality of his work was not compromised with the opening of the Pop Shop, noting that "\[it\] was less about ['purity'|http://inside.fdu.edu/fdupress/05112802.html] and much more an issue of integrity" -- and the intention behind the Pop Shop fell comfortably in line with his sense of integrity.

Of course, Haring did participate in the aforementioned high-end domain of the art world and its market. His art was and is available for extravagant prices in the [most exclusive art galleries and auction houses|http://www.theinternationalman.com/art-galleries-auction-houses.html]. As Michael Gross of the _[New York Times|http://www.nytimes.com]_ noted, "Mr. Haring used to offer his art free on subway walls. Now he sells it for five-figure sums" (quoted in Dellinger). Indeed, the subway art was what made him famous and gained him critical acclaim: they were "murals-in-motion to the cognoscentito the [cognoscenti|http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cognoscenti]," writes Carter. But Haring continued in his conviction that all of his actions, and his resulting success in the art market, fulfilled only his objective of reaching as wide an audience as possible. He made a video for [MTV|http://www.mtv.com/?kw=sem/g/mtv/], created [vodka ads|http://cgi.ebay.com/1986-Keith-Haring-bottle-art-Absolut-Vodka-print-ad-/310321272416], designed [anti-drug|http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/M208E/] and [AIDS-awareness|http://www.haring.com/foundation/about/index.html] campaigns, and sold his art in multiple galleries. Again, he encountered charges of "selling out": "Graffiti \[...has\] grown from hobby to business. Graffiti paintings are being sold in SoHo art galleries for up to $10,000 each. \[...\] Haring, who once did subway graffiti, has [had major exhibitions around the world|http://www.artnet.com/artists/keith-haring/art-exhibitions], and is critically acclaimed," r[eports Mandelit Del Barco of National Public Radio|http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/patc/breakdancing/article.html]. But the more successful Haring became, he maintained, the more people would be exposed to his art. The art market and commitment to social justice are not necessarily mutually exclusive but are, at times, according to theories of the "democratization of culture" ([Marcia Tucker|http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcia_Tucker] in Dellinger, ["|http://www.haring.com/cgi-bin/essays.cgi?essay_id=15]Art and Commerce"), interdependent. Haring "understood his role in merging" art and commerce as "a combination of Inc. and ink" (Dellinger, "Art and Commerce").