In tribute to this beloved artist, who would have turned 50 this year, Haring's Figure with Heart is the latest entrant to the Blue Sky Gallery series. Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade began the Blue Sky Gallery series in 2005 when Parade officials invited artist Tom Otterness to create a balloon version of one of his classic pieces of Humpty Dumpty. Aiming to inject contemporary art into a pop culture phenomenon, the Blue Sky Gallery series continued in 2007 with the debut of "Rabbit" by Jeff Koons.

Working in partnership with the Keith Haring Foundation, Macy's Parade Studio reconceived one of Haring's ink on paper drawings, Untitled (Figure with Heart), 1987, as a giant balloon. The balloon is a three-dimensional rendering of Haring's drawing that will appear flat against the backdrop of the sky just as it might have appeared on the subway walls once favored by the artist.

"We are delighted and proud to collaborate with Macy's in presenting a Haring balloon in the 2008 Thanksgiving Day Parade. Keith himself had long dreamed of being included in this thrilling, annual New York tradition. We believe that the Macy's Parade's adaptation of Haring's artwork is very much in keeping with Keith's own populist vision of art, and the debut of the balloon is a fitting coda to the 50th anniversary celebrations of his birth," said Julia Gruen, Executive Director of the Keith Haring Foundation.