STEVE JOBS Showing Andy WARHOL AND kieth HARING THE Macintosh IN 1984

## The Night Technology Crashed the Art World October 9, 1984. Steve Jobs shows up to a nine-year-old's birthday party with a Macintosh computer tucked under his arm. The guest list reads like a cultural hall of fame: Walter Cronkite, Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Louise Nevelson, John Cage, Harry Nilsson. And Yoko Ono, because it's her son Sean Lennon's party after all. Jobs had brought the newly released Macintosh as Sean's birthday gift. He set it up on the bedroom floor and started showing Sean how to create digital art with MacPaint and the mouse. The kid was instantly hooked. ## When Pop Art Met Personal Computing Word spread through the party, and some of the adult guests drifted into the room, including Warhol and Haring. Warhol was instantly captivated: "What is this? Look at this, Keith. This is incredible!" he exclaimed, eyes wide with wonder. When Warhol asked to take a turn, Jobs explained how the mouse worked, but the artist instead lifted it off the floor and swished it through the air. Finally, Jobs put his hand over Warhol's and steered it along until he'd gotten the hang of it. After a few minutes in concentrated silence, Warhol glanced up: "Look! Keith! I drew a circle!" The moment was pure magic. A simple circle, but one that filled Warhol with childlike delight. ## The Accidental Convergence Kenny Scharf, the third artist in the room, was Haring's roommate from the School of Visual Arts and a key figure in the 1980s East Village art movement. Both Scharf and Haring were already inspired by the emerging graffiti scene, befriending street artists like DAZE and HAZE. That night, Warhol told Jobs that some man had been calling him repeatedly, trying to give him a Macintosh, but he'd never followed up. Jobs replied, "Yeah, that was me." In his diary, Warhol later wrote: "I felt so old and out of it with this young whiz guy right there who'd helped invent it." But Warhol caught on quickly, becoming one of the very first fine artists to work on a computer and heralding a new generation of artists that would be raised on MacPaint and Microsoft Paint. What started as a birthday party gift became the moment digital art was born. ## FAQ **When did Steve Jobs meet Andy Warhol?** October 9, 1984, at Sean Lennon's 9th birthday party in New York. **What computer did Steve Jobs demonstrate?** The Macintosh, which had been released earlier that year in January 1984. **Who else was at the party?** Walter Cronkite, Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf, Louise Nevelson, John Cage, and Harry Nilsson. **What did Warhol create on the computer?** A simple circle using MacPaint, which he excitedly showed to Keith Haring.