Globe Art critic Peter Grant has his senses stunned by a dazzling new exhibition at Tate Liverpool.

AMERICAN artist Keith Haring was only 31 when he died.

Yet he has left a substantial creative legacy as a leading, inspirational public art, graffiti and mould- breaking pop artist.

A creative commentator who wanted to be accessible.

When you enter the exhibition at the Tate it is like walking into suburban New York. You can sense the subway, the streets, the advertising hoardings he used.

It is bursting with life.

Keith who resembled a young Woody Allen relished the opportunity to create art in front of crowds

They became his first critics.

To this day we can see the images he created in global adverts conjured up by the electric imagination of this visionary artist.

This is the first major exhibition of his work - 85 pieces comprising murals, paintings, drawings, iconic images, huge canvas concepts.

A vast array loaned from the Keith Haring Foundation.

It's a coup for Merseyside because such exhibitions don't often head straight to Liverpool.

But the Foundation chose Liverpool.

They felt the city was the right place. I couldn't agree more.

It has also been loving curated.

Keith was friends with Andy Warhol and Vivienne Westwood.

At one point I found myself thinking of that other creative chameleon David Bowie.

Sound and vision go hand in hand.

It is the visual equivalent of listening to a concept album.

One striking work is a massive, busy yellow canvas imagery from the mid 1980s created at a time when Aids was causing fear in New York.

Keith responded to what was happening in the society around him.

The artist was widely respected for his humanity.

He was kind and generous, say close friends.

Here you can see all the inspirations in his life that made him seek out his own voice.

His father was a cartoonist and Keith himself was inspired by Disney and Dr Suess.

Yet Keith boldly went were no others had been before and achieved so much in 12 years.

He refused to be static commenting on the nuclear threat and global political unrest.

Influenced by Picasso and the cultures of The Egyptians and the Aztecs every piece of work in the exhibition will make you stop and think.

Keith wanted his work to communicate with every individual and wanted the viewer to take away. Their own interpretation.

Had he lived he would have broken more barriers in life and art.

As he once said: "Art should be something that liberates your soul, provokes the imagination and encourages people to go further."

Keith Haring, pop artist from Pennsylvania , took risks yet when he reached out with his seemingly simple messages he seldom missed his target.

Keith Haring - alive and kicking. Five Stars

It is open until November 10, 2019 at The Tate

Royal Albert Dock

Admission £12 .50 entry. Free to members.

www.tate.org.uk