In April of 1986, Haring made his art available over-the-counter when he opened the Pop Shop, a store on Lafayette Street in Manhattan's SoHo district. Later, in 1988, he opened Pop Shop Tokyo. Both shops further extended Haring's goal to deliver his message to the public: Haring T-shirts, buttons, patches, magnets, and toys were sold at low prices to the community at large. Haring in front of his Pop Shop, New York City, 1986. © Estate of Keith Haring Although criticized by some voices within the art world as blatant commercialism, the Pop Shops were actually in keeping with Haring's philosophy. They invited the public to share in and enjoy his work, outside of the confines of a gallery setting. Haring in the Pop Shop, New York City, 1986. © Estate of Keith Haring.		As part of the Keith Haring retrospective at SFMOMA, a Pop Shop modeled on the artist's original shops in New York and Tokyo is installed in the museum's galleries. "Doing the Pop Shops was letting the work become what it was becoming anyway, giving my endorsement to what would have happened by itself within this culture.... My acceptance first came from the public and then the art world had to deal with that; they had to figure out if they would endorse it -- or if because it was popular that meant that there was something wrong with it." -- Keith Haring, in Flash Art magazine, Summer 1990 "I could have made more money if I just painted fewer things and jacked up the price. But my shop is an extension of what I was doing in the subway stations, breaking down the barriers between high and low art." -- Keith Haring, in People magazine, November 1986 "My work was starting to become more expensive and more popular with the art market. Those prices meant that only people who could afford big art prices could have access to the work. The Pop Shop makes it accessible. To me, the Pop Shop is totally in keeping ideologically with what Andy [Warhol] was doing and what conceptual artists and earth artists were doing: It was all about participation on a big level." -- Keith Haring, in Rolling Stone, August 10, 1989
	Copyright © 1998 San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.