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Basquiat Self Portraits Art Project

Create your own funky and colorful self portrait inspired by famous artist , Jean-Michel Basquiat! Basquiat art for kids is also a great way to explore mixed media art with kiddos of all ages. All you need are paints, a sheet of art paper, and some tape to make your own Basquiat art!

BASQUIAT ART FOR KIDS

BASQUIAT FOR KIDS

Jean-Michel Basquiat began his career as a street and graffiti artist on the streets of New York. He became good friends with famous artist, Andy Warhol, who supported his artistic endeavors. Basquiat’s art often makes political, personal and social statements, using free association texts, drawings and statements. He had a very difficult life which shaped his art, and unfortunately he died aged 27.

Basquiat painted a lot of self portraits. In both his portraits and self portraits, he explores his identity as a man with African-American lineage. His paintings were tributes to African-American historical figures, jazz musicians, sports personalities and writers.

Be inspired by Basquiat’s art, and create your own self portrait with tape and our free Basquiat printable below. Let’s get started!

CLICK HERE TO GRAB YOUR FREE ART PROJECT!

BASQUIAT SELF PORTRAITS

• Acrylic paint
• Art paper or canvas

INSTRUCTIONS:

STEP 1. Print the Basquiat faces ideas page or create your own design.

STEP 2. Pick a face and “draw” it on your canvas or art paper using pieces of tape.

STEP 3. Paint the background with assorted bright colors.

STEP 4. Paint the face black.

STEP 5. Let the paint dry and then remove the tape to reveal your own Basquiat self portrait.

MORE FUN ART ACTIVITIES

BASQUIAT SELF PORTRAITS ART PROJECT FOR KIDS

Click on the image below or on the link to check out more fun art activities for kids.

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AP®︎/College Art History

Course: ap®︎/college art history   >   unit 6.

• Courbet, The Stonebreakers
• Early Photography: Niépce, Talbot and Muybridge
• Manet, Olympia
• Painting modern life: Monet's Gare Saint-Lazare
• Monet, The Gare Saint-Lazare
• Velasco, The Valley of Mexico
• Rodin, The Burghers of Calais
• Van Gogh, The Starry Night
• Mary Cassatt, The Coiffure
• Munch, The Scream
• Gauguin, Where do we come from? What are we? Where are we going?
• Sullivan, Carson, Pirie, Scott Building
• Cézanne, Mont Sainte-Victoire
• Picasso, Les Demoiselles d'Avignon
• The first modern photograph? Alfred Stieglitz, The Steerage
• Stieglitz, The Steerage
• Gustav Klimt, The Kiss
• Constantin Brancusi, The Kiss
• Analytic Cubism
• Matisse, Goldfish
• Kandinsky, Improvisation 28 (second version), 1912
• Kirchner, Self-Portrait As a Soldier
• Käthe Kollwitz, In Memoriam Karl Liebknecht
• Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye
• Mondrian, Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow
• Stepanova, The Results of the First Five-Year Plan
• Meret Oppenheim, Object (Fur-covered cup, saucer, and spoon)
• Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater
• Kahlo, The Two Fridas (Las dos Fridas)
• Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series (*short version*)
• Jacob Lawrence, The Migration Series (*long version*)
• Duchamp, Fountain
• Lam, The Jungle
• Mexican Muralism: Los Tres Grandes David Alfaro Siqueiros, Diego Rivera, and José Clemente Orozco
• Rivera, Dream of a Sunday Afternoon in Alameda Central Park
• de Kooning, Woman I
• Mies van der Rohe, Seagram Building
• Warhol, Marilyn Diptych
• Yayoi Kusama, Narcissus Garden
• Helen Frankenthaler, The Bay
• Claes Oldenburg, Lipstick (Ascending) on Caterpillar Tracks
• Robert Smithson, Spiral Jetty
• Robert Venturi, House in New Castle County, Delaware

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Horn Players

Charlie parker and dizzy gillespie, basquiat and wordplay, “the black picasso”, basquiat’s musicians, want to join the conversation.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat

American Painter

Summary of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat moved from graffiti artist to downtown punk scenester to celebrity art star in only the few short years of his career. This vertiginous rise took him from sleeping on the streets of New York City to being befriended by Andy Warhol and entering into the elite American art world as one of the most celebrated painters of the Neo-Expressionism art movement. Whilst Basquiat died at only 27 of a heroin overdose, he has now become indelibly associated with the surge in interest in downtown artists in New York during the 1980s. His work explored his mixed African, Latinx, and American heritage through a visual vocabulary of personally resonant signs, symbols, and figures, and his art developed rapidly in scale, scope, and ambition as he moved from the street to the gallery. Much of his work referenced the distinction between wealth and poverty, and reflected his unique position as a working-class person of color within the celebrity art world. In the years following his death, the attention to (and value of) his work has steadily increased, with one painting even setting a new record in 2017 for the highest price paid for an American artist's work at auction.

Accomplishments

• Basquiat's work mixed together many different styles and techniques. His paintings often included words and text, his graffiti was expressive and often abstract, and his logos and iconography had a deep historical resonance. Despite his work's "unstudied" appearance, he very skillfully and purposefully brought together a host of disparate traditions, practices, and styles to create his signature visual collage.
• Many of his artworks reflect an opposition or tension between two poles - rich and poor, black and white, inner and outer experience. This tension and contrast reflected his mixed cultural heritage and experiences growing up and living within New York City and in America more generally.
• Basquiat's work is an example of how American artists of the 1980s began to reintroduce and privilege the human figure in their work after the domination of Minimalism and Conceptualism in the international art market. Basquiat and other Neo-Expressionist painters were seen as establishing a dialogue with the more distant tradition of 1950s Abstract Expressionism , and the earlier Expressionism from the beginning of the century.
• Basquiat's work is emblematic of the art world recognition of punk, graffiti, and counter-cultural practice that took place in the early 1980s. Understanding this context, and the interrelation of forms, movements, and scenes in the readjustment of the art world is essential to understanding the cultural environment in which Basquiat made work. Subcultural scenes, which were previously seen as oppositional to the conventional art market, were transformed by the critical embrace and popular celebration of their artists.
• For some critics, Basquiat's rapid rise to fame and equally swift and tragic death by drug overdose epitomizes and personifies the overtly commercial, and hyped-up international art scene of the mid-1980s. For many observers this period was a cultural phenomenon that corresponded negatively with the largely artificial bubble economy of the era, to the detriment of artists personally and the quality of artworks produced.

The Life of Jean-Michel Basquiat

"I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot", Basquiat said. His life echoes this rise and struggle, and reveals the important dialogue between authenticity, representation, identity and recognition that is at the heart of understanding his work.

Important Art by Jean-Michel Basquiat

Basquiat began painting graffiti in the late 1970s, often socializing and working alongside other artists of the subculture in the Bronx and Harlem. Graffiti artists often focused on figurative images (cartoonish pictures of animals, people and objects), as well as simple 'tags' - logos or names designed to be a trademark or calling card, which was where Basquiat also began. But Basquiat's graffiti quickly developed in a more abstract direction, with the "SAMO" tag origins quite mysterious and loaded with symbolism. This particular black spray paint tag on a wall is emblematic of the SAMO works that Basquiat and his collaborator Al Diaz made between 1976 and 1980. Quickly applied to public spaces in the street and subway, the SAMO pieces conveyed short, sharp, and frequently anti-materialist messages to passersby. Usually seen as a sign of trespassing and vandalism, graffiti in the hands of Diaz and Basquiat became a tool of artistic "branding", and represents an important stage in the development of Basquiat's work. The concept of SAMO, or "Same Old Shit", was developed during Basquiat's involvement with a drama project in New York, where he conceived a character that was devoted to selling a fake religion. Diaz and Basquiat applied the implicit critique embodied by this snake-oil-salesman figure to the commercial and corporate enterprises that they saw hawking goods in public spaces across their city. They initially began to spray paint the slogans that made up the works across subway trains as a way of "letting off steam" but, as Diaz remembers, they rapidly realized that it fulfilled an important role when they compared the work to more conventional graffiti tags. As Diaz says, "SAMO was like a refresher course because there was a statement being made". After years of collaboration, Diaz and Basquiat chose to signify the end of their joint venture with the three-word announcement "SAMO IS DEAD". Carried out episodically in various cites as a piece of ephemeral graffiti art, the phrase surfaced repeatedly on gritty buildings, particularly those throughout Lower Manhattan, where Basquiat and his collaborators carried out much of their artistic activity.

Graffiti - Location unknown (New York City)

Untitled (Skull)

An example of Basquiat's early canvas-based work, Untitled (Skull) features a patchwork skull that seems almost a pictorial equivalent of the monster from Mary Shelley's Frankenstein - a constructed and sutured sum of incongruent parts. Suspended before a background that suggests aspects of the New York City subway system, the skull is at once a contemporary graffitist's riff on a long Western tradition of self-portraiture, and the "signature piece" of a streetwise bohemian. The expression on the skull-like face is downcast, with the rough stitches suggesting an unhappy combination of constituent parts. The colors used, which mix and swirl together, suggest bruising or wounds to the face, combining with the jagged lines to imply violence or its aftermath. Basquiat's recent past as a curbside peddler, homeless person, and nightclub personality at the time that he created this piece are all equally stamped into the troubled three-quarter profile. Together these characteristics suggest that the piece becomes a world-weary icon of the displaced Puerto-Rican and Haitian immigrant Basquiat seemed to think himself doomed to remain, even while successfully navigating the newly gentrified streets of 1980s SoHo and the art market that took an interest in them.

Acrylic and mixed media on canvas - The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Untitled (Black Skull)

Like a page pulled cleanly from a daily artist's journal, this untitled canvas features an array of Basquiat's personal iconography and recurring symbols set against a black background and smeared patches of bright paint. A white skull juts from the center of the ebony composition, vividly recalling the revered painter's tradition of the memento mori - a reminder of the ephemeral nature of all life and the body's eventual, merciless degeneration. The bone to the right of the canvas could also be read as a phallus, suggesting the representation of Black male sexuality as threatening or primitive (particularly when positioned next to the arrow in the painting). Scales appear directly below the skull, perhaps representing the scales of justice and therefore implying the inequality in treatment of Black men by the police and justice system that is perpetuated to this day. Boldy appropriating images commonly associated with rural African art - a skull, a bone, an arrow - Basquiat modernizes them with his Neo-Expressionist style of thickly applied paint, rapidly rendered subjects, and scrawled linear characters, all of which float loosely across the pictorial field, as though hallucinatory. Basquiat demonstrates in one concise "study" how he is able to carry on an ancient practice of painting "still life" all the while suggesting that the artist's work was relatively effortless, if not completely improvisatory, as in the performance of a jazz musician. Nevertheless, the density of the imagery and its loaded symbolism reveal Basquiat's skill and his ability in composition.

Acrylic, oil stick, and spray paint on canvas - The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Flexible features two of Basquiat's most famous motifs: the griot and the venerable crown. An emaciated black figure stares out from the canvas towards the viewer, its arms creating a closed circuit in what may be a reference to spiritualized energy, a concept which appears in several works featuring the griot . The work also reflects Basquiat's development as an artist and is a synthesis of his influences, with the diagrammatic rendering of the figure's lungs and abdomen reminiscent of the young Basquiat's fascination with anatomical sketches from Gray's Anatomy. Whilst its lack of distinguishing characteristics might imply an "Everyman", the specifically African ethnicity of the figure provides a clear reference to Basquiat's own identity and background. In its color palette and the particular rendering of the human figure through thin limbs and a large head, the influence of the shapes and forms of traditional West African art is apparent. Art historian and Basquiat collaborator Fred Hoffman writes that the image represents a tribal king, one whose "posture, with arms raised and interlocked above his head, conveys confidence and authority, attributes of his heroism. He seems to be crowning himself. Given that the griot is traditionally a kind of wandering philosopher, street performer, and social commentator, it is possible that Basquiat saw himself taking up this role within the New York art world, which nurtured his artistic success but also swiftly exploited it for material profit. The image is painted on wooden slats, which Basquiat asked his assistants to remove from a fence that protected the boundary of his Los Angeles studio. By removing this barrier, Basquiat made the property open, and able to be traversed across freely, perhaps reflecting his empathy and personal experience of the limits of public space as a homeless person in New York.

Acrylic and oil paint stick on wood - Private Collection

Untitled (History of the Black People)

At the center of this painting, Basquiat depicts a yellow Egyptian boat being guided down the Nile River by the god Osiris. Two Nubian masks appear in the left of the image, under the word "NUBA", whilst graffiti-esque tags are scrawled over a silhouetted blackdog, reads "a dog guarding the pharaoh". Other text in the image includes "Memphis [Thebes] Tennessee" "sickle" (repeated several times in the central panel, and directly referencing slave trade), "Hemlock" (in the bottom right corner), "esclave slave esclave") superimposed over a silhouetted black human figure, as well as the Spanish phrases "El gran espectaculo" (along the top of the image), and "mujer" (next to a crudely drawn figure with circular breasts). In this expansive early work, also referred to as The Nile, Basquiat reconstructs the epic history of his own ancestors' arrival on the American continent. This includes references to Egypt and the rest of Africa, as well as more local centers of African-American music in the Southern United States. Rife with visual and textual references to African history, the painting tackles a heady subject within Basquiat's trademark aesthetic. Art historian Andrea Frohne suggests that the painting "reclaims Egypt as African", attempting to undo the revisionist positioning of Ptolemaic Egypt as a precursor to Western Civilisation and instead emphasizing its African identity. This corresponds to attempts within the African-American community to reconnect with a specifically African heritage and history in the 1980s, which may have influenced Basquiat's development of the piece. Curator Dieter Buchhart asserts that "Basquiat was drawing and painting the Black experience in which any person from the African Diaspora could see themselves reflected and drawing attention to both their collective successes and struggles. Basquiat’s African-American men are usually not only ready to struggle but also intent on resistance." Many of Basquiat's late-period works feature similar multi-panel paintings, in the tradition of Renaissance religious triptychs, and canvases with exposed stretcher bars. Often the surfaces of these pieces are virtually consumed by the density of the writing, collage, and varied imagery.

Acrylic paint and oil paint stick on panel - The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Arm and Hammer II

In this collaborative painting, Basquiat paints over Andy Warhol's trademark reproduction of a corporate logo, in this case for the Arm and Hammer brand of baking soda. Adjusting one of the two reproductions of the logo that appear in the painting to show a Black saxophonist instead of the flexing white arm, Basquiat frames the image with text which reads "Liberty 1955". The insertion of an image of Black creativity within an advertising logo may be an assertion of agency and reclamation of public space by Basquiat. It is also a visual reference to jazz, an African-American musical form that reached new heights of popularity in the 1950s, and an implicit acknowledgement of the repression of Black people that existed despite the music's success and incorporation into American identity. Moreover, the insertion of an image of Black creativity within an advertising logo may be an assertion of agency and reclamation of public space by Basquiat. Typical of their collaboration, Arm and Hammer II demonstrates how Basquiat and Warhol would pass a work between them, like a game of chance happening, free association, and mutual inspiration. Warhol's characteristic employment of corporate logos and advertising copy as shorthand signs for the materialistic modern psyche is frequently overlaid by Basquiat's attempt to deface them in his freehand style, as though he were vainly raising his own fist at a largely invisible, insidious and monolithic monster in the form of corporate America.

Acrylic and silkscreen on canvas - Gallery Bruno Bischofberger AG

Ten Punching Bags (Last Supper)

Ten Punching Bags (Last Supper) is a collaboration between Basquiat and Andy Warhol, commissioned by Alexandre Iolas, the international art gallerist and collector. Basquiat painted each of ten white punching bags with an image of Jesus, as well as the word “Judge” repeated several times on each bag. The piece was originally intended to be displayed in Milan directly across the street from Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper . Opposite the Renaissance masterpiece, Ten Punching Bags was to function, somewhat playfully, as a "call to arms" for contemporary art against all forms of ideological oppression. Christian readings of the piece were generally (and perhaps surprisingly) very positive, the representation of Jesus as a punching bag corresponding to the concept that he took on the sins of human beings, receiving the punches that they might be free. Reverend Harold T. Lewis wrote that Basquiat's contribution to the work tied the role of Jesus to poverty, suggesting that the iconography both religious and secular added by Basquiat creates a situation where "Jesus the Judge himself is judged by the squalor of urban poverty". Basquiat and Warhol suggested that this piece was among their favorite collaborations, as it represented an effective blend of their respective styles. Both artists made important contributions to the design. Warhol's influence is made clear by the careful color composition and physical installation, which is reminiscent of several of his iconic brand works. Basquiat's expressive renderings of Jesus and signature crown motifs disrupt the clean lines and organized placement however, much like graffiti disrupts the order of corporatized public space.

Acrylic and oil stick on punching bags - The Andy Warhol Museum

Riding with Death

Riding with Death is one of Basquiat's final paintings, and one which can easily be read as representing his inner turmoil and increasing conviction that the racist, classist, and corrupt nature of America in the 1980s was visible everywhere, including in the art world. Painted in the weeks before his death, the bleakness and sadness of the image and its title is only enhanced by the knowledge that the artist's life would come to an end far too soon shortly after its completion. Less cluttered and visually dense than many of his earlier paintings, Riding with Death features a textured brown field onto which Basquiat has depicted an African figure riding a skeleton. The skeleton crawls on all fours towards the left-hand side of the image, whilst the rider, rendered in less detail than the bones on which they sit, writhes or flails its arms. The skull faces the viewer, its cartoonish proportions and broad expression suggesting the gestural graffiti that remained a core stylistic influence on Basquiat's painting. The simplicity of the background and the subject matter are also reminiscent of pre-historic cave art, as well as later African tribal art. The head of the African figure is indistinct, its features obscured by black scribbles apart from a single eye in its forehead. The central figures, although simply framed, are loaded with symbolism. The pair suggest a nihilism or journey towards death that is made more poignant by Basquiat's dependence upon heroin and other drugs at the time of its painting. Although the African figure is riding the skeleton and could therefore be read as being in a position of dominance, the assertive positioning of the skeleton suggests instead that it is in control, perhaps dragging the rider to the far side of the frame. Coupled with the distinction in color between the two (a white skeleton and Black rider), this couple could be read as a metaphor for the repression and destruction of African societies by colonial powers, as well as the inequalities that existed within 1980s America for people of color. This work is an excellent example of the complex meanings Basquiat was able to communicate and suggest through a complex visual language regularly referred to by critics as "primitive" or "naïve". As this poignant image shows, Basquiat's work was in fact highly sophisticated and far more technically accomplished than is often credited.

Acrylic and crayon on canvas - Private Collection

Biography of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn in 1960. His mother, Matilde Andradas was born also born in Brooklyn but to parents from Puerto Rico. His father, Gerard Basquiat, was an immigrant from Port-au-Prince, Haiti. As a result of this mixed heritage the young Jean-Michel was fluent in both French and Spanish as well as English. His early readings of French symbolist poetry in their original language would later be an influence on the artworks that he made as an adult. Basquiat displayed a talent for art in early childhood, learning to draw and paint with his mother's encouragement and often using supplies (such as paper) brought home from his father's job as an accountant. Together Basquiat and his mother attended many museum exhibitions in New York, and by the age of six Jean-Michel was enrolled as a Junior Member of the Brooklyn Museum. He was also a keen athlete, competing in track events at his school.

After being hit by a car while playing in the street at age 8, Basquiat underwent surgery for the removal of his spleen. This event led to his reading the famous medical and artistic treatise, Gray's Anatomy (originally published in 1858), which was given to him by his mother whilst he recovered. The sinewy bio-mechanical images of this text, along with the comic book art and cartoons that the young Basquiat enjoyed, would one day come to inform the graffiti-inscribed canvases for which he became known.

After his parents' divorce, Basquiat lived alone with his father, his mother having been determined unfit to care for him due to her mental health problems. Citing physical and emotional abuse, Basquiat eventually ran away from home and was adopted by a friend's family. Although he attended school sporadically in New York and Puerto Rico, where his father had attempted to move the family in 1974, he finally dropped out of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn in September 1978, at the age of 17.

Early Training

As Basquiat stated, "I never went to art school. I failed the art courses that I did take in school. I just looked at a lot of things. And that’s how I learnt about art, by looking at it". Basquiat's art was fundamentally rooted in the New York City graffiti scene of the 1970s. After becoming involved in an Upper West Side drama group called Family Life Theater he developed the character SAMO (an acronym for "Same Old Shit"), a man who tried to sell a fake religion to audiences. In 1976, he and an artist friend, Al Diaz, started spray-painting buildings in Lower Manhattan under this nom de plume . The SAMO pieces were largely text based, and communicated an anti-establishment, anti-religion, and anti-politics message. The text of these messages was accompanied by logos and imagery that would later feature in Basquiat's solo work, particularly the three-pointed crown.

The SAMO pieces soon received media attention from the counterculture press, most notably the Village Voice , a publication that documented art, culture, and music that saw itself as distinct from the mainstream. When Basquiat and Diaz had a disagreement and decided to stop working together, Basquiat ended the project with the terse message: SAMO IS DEAD. This message appeared on the facade of several SoHo art galleries and downtown buildings during 1980. After taking note of the declaration, Basquiat's friend and Street Art collaborator Keith Haring staged a mock wake for SAMO at Club 57, an underground nightclub in the East Village.

During this period Basquiat was frequently homeless and forced to sleep at friend's apartments or on park benches, supporting himself by panhandling, dealing drugs, and peddling hand-painted postcards and T-shirts. He frequented downtown clubs however, particularly the Mudd Club and Club 57, where he was known as part of the "baby crowd" of younger attendees (this group also included actor Vincent Gallo). Both clubs were popular hangouts for a new generation of visual artists and musicians, including Keith Haring, Kenny Scharf , movie director Jim Jarmusch and Ann Magnusson, all of whom became friends and occasional collaborators with Basquiat. Haring in particular was a notable rival as well as a friend, and the two are often remembered as competing with each other to improve the scope, scale, and ambition of their work. The two both gained recognition at similar points in their careers, progressing in parallel to reach the heights of art world stardom.

Due in part to his immersion in this downtown scene, Basquiat began to gain more opportunities to show his art, and became a key figure in the new downtown artistic movement. For example, he appeared as a nightclub DJ in Blondie's music video Rapture , cementing his cache as a figure within the "new wave" of cool music, art, and film emerging from the Lower East Side. During this time he also formed and performed with his band Gray. Basquiat was critical of the lack of people of color in the downtown scene, however, and in the late 1970s he also began spending time uptown with graffiti artists in the Bronx and Harlem.

After his work was included in the historic Times Square Show of June 1980, Basquiat's profile rose higher, and he had his first solo exhibition in 1982 at the Annina Nosei Gallery in SoHo. Rene Ricard's Artforum article, "The Radiant Child", of December 1981, solidified Basquiat's position as a rising star in the wider art world, as well as the conjunction between the uptown graffiti and downtown punk scenes his work represented. Basquiat's rise to wider recognition coincided with the arrival in New York of the German Neo-Expressionist movement, which provided a congenial forum for his own street-smart, curbside expressionism. Basquiat began exhibiting regularly alongside artists like Julian Schnabel and David Salle , all of whom were reacting, to one degree or another, against the recent art-historical dominance of Conceptualism and Minimalism . Neo-Expressionism marked the return of painting and the re-emergence of the human figure in contemporary art making. Images of the African Diaspora and classic Americana punctuated Basquiat's work at this time, some of which was featured at the prestigious Mary Boone Gallery in solo shows in the mid 1980s (Basquiat was later represented by art dealer and gallerist Larry Gagosian in Los Angeles).

Mature Period

1982 was a significant year for Basquiat. He opened six solo shows in cities across the world, and became the youngest artist ever to be included in Documenta, the prestigious international contemporary art extravaganza held every five years in Kassel, Germany. During this time, Basquiat created some 200 art works and developed a signature motif: a heroic, crowned black oracle figure. The legendary jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie and boxers Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali were among Basquiat's inspirations for his work during this period. Sketchy and often abstract, the portraits captured the essence rather than the physical likeness of their subjects. The ferocity of Basquiat's technique, with slashes of paint and dynamic dashes of line, was intended to reveal what he saw as his subjects' inner self, their hidden feelings, and their deepest desires. These works also reinforced the intellect and passion of their subjects, rather than being fixated on the fetishized Black male body. Another epic figuration, based on the West African griot , also features heavily in this era of Basquiat's work. The griot propagated community history in West African culture through storytelling and song, and he was typically depicted by Basquiat with a grimace and squinting elliptical eyes fixed securely on the observer. Basquiat's artistic strategies and personal ascendency was in keeping with a wider Black Renaissance in the New York art world of the same era (exemplified by the widespread attention being given at the time to the work of artists such as Faith Ringgold and Jacob Lawrence ).

By the early 1980s, Basquiat had befriended Pop artist Andy Warhol , with whom he collaborated on a series of works from 1984 to 1986, such as Ten Punching Bags (Last Supper) (1985-86). Warhol would often paint first, then Basquiat would layer over his work. In 1985, a New York Times Magazine feature article declared Basquiat the hot young American artist of the 1980s. This relationship became the subject of friction between Basquiat and many of his downtown contemporaries, as it appeared to mark a new interest in the commercial dimension of the art market.

Warhol was also criticized for potential exploitation of a young and fashionable artist of color to boost his own credentials as current and relevant to the newly significant East Village scene . Broadly speaking, these collaborations were not well received by either audiences or critics, and are now often viewed as lesser works of both artists.

Perhaps as a result of the new-found fame and commercial pressure put upon his work, Basquiat was by this point of his life becoming increasingly addicted to both heroin and cocaine. Several friends linked this dependency to the stress of maintaining his career and the pressures of being a person of color in a predominantly white art world. Basquiat died of a heroin overdose in his apartment in 1988 at the age of 27.

The Legacy of Jean-Michel Basquiat

In his short life Jean-Michel Basquiat nonetheless came to play an important and historic role in the rise of the downtown cultural scene in New York and Neo-Expressionism more broadly. While the larger public latched on to the superficial exoticism of his work and were captivated by his overnight celebrity, his art, which has often been described inaccurately as "naif" and "ethnically gritty", held important connections to expressive precursors, such as Jean Dubuffet and Cy Twombly .

A product of the celebrity and commerce-obsessed culture of the 1980s, Basquiat and his work continue to serve for many observers as a metaphor for the dangers of artistic and social excess. Like the comic book superheroes that formed an early influence, Basquiat rocketed to fame and riches, and then, just as speedily, fall back to Earth, the victim of drug abuse and eventual overdose.

The recipient of posthumous retrospectives at the Brooklyn Museum (2005) and the Whitney Museum of American Art (1992), as well as the subject of numerous biographies and documentaries, including Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child (2010), and Julian Schnabel's feature film, Basquiat (1996; starring former friend David Bowie as Andy Warhol), Basquiat and his counter-cultural legacy persist. In 2017, another film Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean Michel Basquiat was released to critical acclaim, also inspiring an exhibition of the same title at the Barbican art gallery in London. His art remains a constant source of inspiration for contemporary artists, and his short life a constant source of interest and speculation for an art industry that thrives on biographical legend.

Alongside his friend and contemporary Keith Haring, Basquiat's art has come to stand in for that particular period of countercultural New York art. Both artists' work is frequently exhibited alongside the other's (most recently in the 2019 exhibition 'Keith Haring I Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines' in Melbourne, Australia), and there have been a number of commercial licenses granted for the reproduction of several of his visual motifs. Recently this has included a range of graphic print shirts at Uniqlo displaying the work of both artists.

The rise in Basquiat's profile since his death has also pushed new artists to make work inspired by or even in direct reference to his work. This includes painters, graffiti and installation artists working within the gallery, but also musicians, poets and filmmakers. Visual artists influenced by Basquiat include David Hewitt, Scott Haley, Barb Sherin, and Mi Be in North America, as well as European and Asian artists such as David Joly, Mathieu Bernard-Martin, Mikael Teo, and Andrea Chisesi, all of whom cite his work as formative to their own development. Musicians such as Kojey Radical, Shabaka Hutchings, and Lex Amor have similarly praised his work as informing their own. These three musical artists in particular appeared alongside others on Untitled , a collaborative compilation released as a tribute to Basquiat in 2019 by London based record label The Vinyl Factory.

Influences and Connections

Useful Resources on Jean-Michel Basquiat

• Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art Our Pick By Phoebe Hoban
• Warhol on Basquiat: The Iconic Relationship Told in Andy Warhol’s Words and Pictures Our Pick By Michael Dayton Hermann
• Basquiat’s "Defacement": The Untold Story Our Pick By Chaédria LaBouvier, Nancy Spector, J. Faith Almiron, Greg Tate, Luc Sante, Carlo McCormick, Jeffrey Deitch, Kenny Scharf, Fred Braithwaite, and Michelle Shocked
• Basquiat: Art Masters Series By Julian Voloj
• Basquiat By Leonhard Emmerling
• Basquiat Before Basquiat: East 12th Street 1979-1980 Our Pick By Nora Burnett Abrams
• Jean-Michel Basquiat. 40th Anniversary Edition Our Pick By Eleanor Nairne and Hans Werner Holzwarth
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• Jean-Michel Basquiat By Robert Farris Thompson and Renee Ricard
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• Jean-Michel Basquiat: 1981: the Studio of the Street Our Pick By Diego Cortez
• Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat
• Young Fun Our Pick Basquiat's best work. / By Peter Schjeldahl / The New Yorker / APRIL 4, 2005
• Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child By Stephen Holden / New York Times / July 20, 2010
• The Jean-Michel Basquiat I knew… By Miranda Sawyer / The Guardian / September 3, 2017
• Nationalizing Abject American Artists: Jackson Pollock, Lee Krasner, and Jean-Michel Basquiat Our Pick By Julie Codell / Auto/Biography Studies / Summer 2011
• “Why Can’t I Be Both?” Jean-Michel Basquiat and Aesthetics of Black Bodies Reconstituted Our Pick By Anthony B. Pinn / Journal of Africana Religions / 2013
• “Cut and Mix”: Jean-Michel Basquiat in Retrospect Our Pick By Jordana Moore Saggese / Journal of Contemporary African Art / Spring 2011
• Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat, filmed in 1986 Our Pick
• The Chaotic Brilliance of Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat - Jordana Moore Saggese Our Pick TED-Ed
• Jean Michel Basquiat / The Radiant Child (2010) (Full-Length Documentary) Our Pick Creatime Diseño Gráfico
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• Jean-Michel Basquiat: Interview With His Family Localish
• 'Radiant Child' A Rare Insight Into Basquiat's Mind All Things Considered, NPR
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Content compiled and written by Bonnie Rosenberg

Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Lewis Church

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Unraveling Basquiat’s Style, Technique, and Materials

Introduction

Bursting onto the canvas and leaving you hypnotized, the raw energy of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work invites you on a bold, enriching journey. A fearless rule-breaker who transformed an entire era of art, Basquiat’s unique methodology challenged norms, and sparked cultural conversations that echo to this day. Brace yourselves as we unraveled the captivating labyrinth of his groundbreaking style, innovative techniques, and eclectic materials that shaped his awe-inspiring oeuvre. Are you ready for an enlightening exploration of the mind behind some of art history’s most rebellious and revolutionary works? Read on for an unforgettable immersion into the dynamic artistry of Basquiat.

Unraveling Basquiat’s Style, Technique, and Materials

Diving into the fascinating world of Jean-Michel Basquiat, one is instantly inspired by the dexterity and audacity of this legendary artist. Widely renowned for his vibrant and provocative works, Basquiat laid the foundation for a new art era by infusing his heritage, the energy of the New York streets, and contemporary culture into every stroke.

Basquiat: The Artistic Remixer

Comparable to an artistic DJ, Basquiat mastered the art of remixing and layering in his creations. He fused influences from different art movements, thereby amalgamating various styles into his unique artistic vocabulary. With his bold stroke work, Basquiat transformed the canvas into a stirring narrative of life, incorporating elements of the everyday and mundane, the extraordinary, and the profound, all at once.

Graffiti Origins and Iconic Imagery

Starting as a street artist under the pseudonym “SAMO,” Basquiat’s roots laid in the gritty and raw energy of the New York City streets. He sought to critique the established gallery scene and the commercial world in his works, often using graffiti-like scrawls and a vibrant mix of colors. His iconic imagery, featuring motifs like crowns, skulls, and cryptic text, speak volumes about his thoughts on identity, society, and race.

Basquiat’s Daring Techniques: A Symphony of Assemblage and Layering

Basquiat defied artistic conventions by freely experimenting with his techniques. Not just limited to his signature painting style, he also famously incorporated elements of assemblage art and collage in his works. Using found objects like clothing, wood, and newspaper clippings, he intertwined the realms of fine art and everyday objects, challenging the viewers’ perception of artistic expression. His multilayered compositions amalgamate images, scrawled words, and vibrant colors, invoking deep thought and various interpretations.

Exploring the Canvas of Life: Basquiat’s Materials

Basquiat’s choice of materials ranged from conventional acrylics and oil sticks to innovative additions like Xerox copies, pastels, and street-found objects, emphasizing his inclination towards boundless creativity. His use of diverse support surfaces such as canvas, wooden panels, refrigerator doors, and others further reinforced his belief in turning the ordinary into extraordinary.

From Graffiti to Galleries: Basquiat’s Legacy

Ultimately, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s mastery lay in transferring real life, books, and television – his surroundings and experiences – onto his chosen canvas with a dazzling display of artistic expertise. By unearthing the vibrant cultural consequences onto stretched canvas, Basquiat left an indelible mark on the art world, and his legacy continues to inspire and resonate with audiences worldwide.

As we delve deeper into Basquiat’s world, we see a mastermind at work, defying norms, breaking barriers, and above all, expressing his unfiltered perception of life – making him an enduring visionary of his time.

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Breaking Boundaries: The Art Style of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat , an artist whose work continues to resonate and inspire, was a unique figure in the world of modern art. His artistic journey, deeply intertwined with the bustling street culture of New York City in the late 70s and 80s, marked a significant departure from conventional art forms of the time. In this exploration of Basquiat’s art style, we’ll delve into the core elements that make his work stand out, reflecting his individuality, cultural heritage, and the socio-political landscape he navigated.

Table of Contents

The Neo-Expressionism Movement

Basquiat emerged as a pivotal figure in the Neo-Expressionism movement , a style that gained prominence in the late 20th century. Characterized by its raw, emotive, and often unsettling imagery, Neo-Expressionism was a reaction against the conceptual and minimalistic art that preceded it. This movement sought to bring back the human figure, personal emotion, and narrative into the art world. Basquiat’s work epitomizes this with its focus on figurative art and its visceral, emotionally charged nature.

Primitivism and Rawness

One of the most distinctive traits of Basquiat’s art is its primitivist aesthetic. This style often includes a raw, almost childlike quality, echoing the art of indigenous people and ancient civilizations. Basquiat employed a kind of controlled chaos in his work, using a combination of crude, naive doodles and more sophisticated, painterly techniques. This juxtaposition created a powerful visual language that communicated complex themes of identity, history, and socio-political issues.

Text and Symbolism

Text played a crucial role in Basquiat’s art, often interwoven with imagery to create a dense tapestry of meaning. His use of words ranged from single letters and numbers to phrases and cryptic messages. This textual element added a layer of depth to his work, inviting viewers to engage with the painting not just visually but intellectually. The words and symbols in Basquiat’s paintings often referenced his personal experiences, historical figures, and issues of race and class.

Anatomy and Human Figures

Basquiat’s fascination with anatomy is evident in many of his works. Influenced by his early interest in Gray’s Anatomy (a book he was given during a hospital stay), he frequently incorporated skeletal figures and anatomical diagrams into his art. These elements served as metaphors for deeper themes, such as vulnerability, mortality, and the human condition.

The depiction of human figures and faces in his work is raw and expressive, often bordering on the grotesque. This representation underscores the intensity and urgency of Basquiat’s message, reflecting his commentary on humanity and its complexities.

Color and Contrast

Color is another significant aspect of Basquiat’s style. He often used a vibrant palette to create striking contrasts in his works. Bold colors were juxtaposed with black or white spaces, creating a dynamic visual rhythm. His use of color was not just aesthetic but also symbolic, conveying emotions and highlighting the critical themes of his paintings.

The intensity of the hues often served to underscore the powerful messages about race, poverty, and inequality that Basquiat sought to convey.

Integration of Street Art

Basquiat’s roots in graffiti and street art profoundly influenced his style. Starting as a street artist under the pseudonym “ SAMO ,” he brought the spontaneity and rawness of the streets into the fine art gallery. His paintings often retained the energy and immediacy of graffiti, with loose, gestural lines and an impromptu, improvisational feel.

This integration of street art into his work challenged traditional boundaries and definitions of what constituted fine art.

Layering and Collage

Basquiat frequently used a technique of layering and collage in his paintings. He often combined paint with found objects and mixed media, creating textured, multidimensional works. This layering not only added physical depth to his paintings but also imbued them with a rich array of meanings and references. The collage-like approach mirrored the complexity of his themes, reflecting a world full of contradictions, conflicts, and diverse influences.

Cultural References and Personal Iconography

Basquiat’s work is replete with cultural references and personal iconography that speak to his heritage, influences, and the world he inhabited.

He drew inspiration from a wide array of sources, including African art, jazz music, Greek mythology, and contemporary pop culture. This eclectic mix of influences was reflected in the symbols and motifs that recur throughout his work, such as crowns, masks, and heroic figures. These elements served not only as personal markers but also as commentary on broader cultural and historical themes.

Political and Social Commentary

A significant aspect of Basquiat’s art is its potent political and social commentary. He tackled issues such as racism, inequality, and the struggles of marginalized communities. His paintings often portrayed black heroes and figures, challenging the predominantly white narrative of art history and contemporary culture. Basquiat’s art was a powerful platform for expressing his views on social injustices, and his bold, confrontational style served to amplify his message.

Your thoughts matter to us! We’re eager to hear your take on Jean-Michel Basquiat’s distinctive art style and which of his works resonate with you the most.

Do you find his raw, emotive expression captivating, or are you drawn to his bold use of color and symbolism? Share your perspectives and favorite pieces in the comments below. And don’t forget, our blog is a treasure trove of insights on the artistic styles of other legendary figures like Picasso , Dalí , and Da Vinci , among many others. Dive into our rich collection of articles to explore and compare the unique artistic languages of these great masters!”

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Race, power, money – the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat

A Basquiat painting has been sold for more than $100m, but nearly 30 years after his death his art is as painfully relevant as ever

I n the spring of 1982, a rumour started swilling around New York. The gallerist Annina Nosei had some kind of boy genius locked in her basement, a black kid, wild and inscrutable as Kaspar Hauser , making masterpieces out of nowhere to the accompaniment of Ravel’s Boléro . “Oh Christ”, Jean-Michel Basquiat said when he heard. “If I was white, they would just call it an artist-in-residence.”

These were the kind of rumours he had to work against, but also the deliberate myth he constructed about himself, part canny bid for stardom, part protective veil. Basquiat was 22 by then, and could make up out of the whole cloth of his childhood experience all kinds of patchworked, piecemeal selves, playing off people’s expectations of what a grubby, dreadlocked, half-Haitian, half-Puerto Rican young man might be capable of.

He had come to prominence as a graffiti artist, part of the duo SAMO, short for same old shit, who bombed the doors and walls of the Lower East Side with enigmatic phrases. The paintings started coming right at the moment that the East Village transformed from a burned-out wasteland inhabited by heroin addicts to the epicentre of a startling art boom. There was a marketable glamour to being a down-and-out prodigy then, but it was an act for Basquiat, as much a way of satirising prejudice as the African chieftain outfits he’d later wear to the parties of wealthy white collectors.

He was a street kid, true, a teen runaway who had slept on benches in Tompkins Square Park, but he was also a handsome privileged boy from a Park Slope brownstone who had gone to private school, followed by a stint at City-As-School, a destination for gifted children. Though he didn’t have a formal art education, he and his mother Matilde had been frequenting museums since he was a toddler. As his girlfriend Suzanne Mallouk recalled of a trip to MoMA , “Jean knew every inch of that museum, every painting, every room. I was astonished at his knowledge and intelligence and at how twisted and unexpected his observations could be.”

All the same, there were ruptures. His parents separated when he was eight. That year, a car hit him while he was playing basketball in the street. He spent a month in hospital with a broken arm and internal injuries so severe his spleen had to be removed. The gift his mother gave him then, a copy of Gray’s Anatomy , became his foundational text, his talisman. He loved discovering the interior architecture of his body, but he also loved the way a body could be reduced to the clean lines of its component parts. Later he would be similarly drawn to cave art, hieroglyphs and hobo signs, the world resolved into elegant pictorial symbols that encoded complex meanings.

As a boy he made cartoons of Hitchcock films, but in 1977 he graduated to making his mark on the skin of New York itself. A bebop insurgent, he travelled the nocturnal city with a spray-can in his overcoat pocket, attacking in particular the high art zone of Soho and the Lower East Side. “ORIGIN OF COTTON,” he wrote on a wall in front of a factory in his distinctively loose-jointed capitals; “SAMO AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO PLASTIC FOOD STANDS”. The statements were so totally poised in their assault on art-world inanities that observers believed they were by a disaffected conceptual artist, someone already famous. “SAMO FOR THE SO-CALLED AVANT GARDE; SAMO AS AN END TO THE POLICE”.

There is a graphomaniac quality to almost all of Basquiat’s work. He liked to scribble, to amend, to footnote, to second-guess and to correct himself. Words jumped out at him, from the back of cereal boxes or subway ads, and he stayed alert to their subversive properties, their double and hidden meaning. His notebooks, recently published in an exquisite facsimile by Princeton, are full of stray phrases, odd combinations. When he began painting, working up to it by way of hand-coloured collaged postcards, it was objects he went for first, drawing and writing on refrigerators, clothes, cabinets and doors, regardless of whether they belonged to him or not.

In 1980, a boom year, he was mostly homeless and penniless, picking up girls from clubs so he had somewhere to spend the night. He showed his work for the first time in the scene-defining Times Square Show , which also featured Kenny Scharf, Jenny Holzer and Kiki Smith. He starred as the lead character in New York Beat Movie , a film based loosely on his life, which wouldn’t be released until 2000, when it was renamed Downtown 81 . That year his co-star Debbie Harry bought one of his first paintings, Cadillac Moon , for $100, less than one millionth of the price reached by one of his works this year.

It’s salutary to look at Cadillac Moon , with its Twomblyish neutrals, its scumbled regions of accomplished and obscuring white and grey, behind which are visible ranks of capital “As”, spelling out a lexical scream, alongside cartoon cars and TV sets. At the bottom there is a sequence of names, from left to right a crossed-out SAMO, followed by AARON, a name Basquiat often incorporated into his paintings, probably after the baseball player Hank Aaron, and then his own bold signature.

There it is: the mature elements of Basquiat’s work, worldly, reticent, communicative, crude and expert all at once. In palette and simplicity it’s a visual rhyme to the very late Riding with Death , painted in the heroin wasteland of 1988, Basquiat’s last year, in which a black man rides on a four-legged white skeleton, against an awesomely reduced background, a burlap-coloured scrim, of absolutely nothing at all.

A Basquiat alphabet: alchemy, an evil cat, black soap, corpus, cotton, crime, crimée, crown, famous, hotel, king, left paw, liberty, loin, milk, negro, nothing to be gained here, Olympics, Parker, police, PRKR, sangre, soap, sugar, teeth.

These were words he used often, names he returned to turning language into a spell to repel ghosts. The evident use of codes and symbols inspires a sort of interpretation-mania on the part of curators. But surely part of the point of the crossed-out lines and erasing hurricanes of colour is that Basquiat is attesting to the mutability of language, the way it twists and turns according to the power status of the speaker. Crimée is not the same as criminal, negro alters in different mouths, cotton might stand literally for slavery but also for fixed hierarchies of meaning and the way people get caged inside them.

“Everything he did was an attack on racism and I loved him for this,” Mallouk says in Widow Basquiat , the poetic account of their shared life by Jennifer Clement. She describes him in MoMA sprinkling water from a bottle, hexing the temple. “This is another of the white man’s plantations,” he explains.

After Basquiat, Mallouk became involved with another young artist, Michael Stewart, who in 1983 was arrested and beaten into a coma by three police officers after graffitiing a subway station wall. He died 13 days later. The officers, who claimed Stewart had a heart attack, were charged with criminally negligent homicide, assault and perjury but found not guilty by an all-white jury. It is thought he was killed by an illegal chokehold, as Eric Garner would be, in New York, 31 years later.

“It could have been me,” Basquiat said, and set about painting Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart) . Two cartoonish cops with malevolent Mr Punch faces and raised nightsticks wait to rain blows on a black boy, who Basquiat has drawn as a faceless silhouette, passing between them into the blue sky.

In contrast to the portrait of another black martyr, Emmett Till, by the white artist Dana Schutz that caused so much controversy at this year’s Whitney Biennial, Basquiat chooses not to show Stewart’s destroyed face. Instead he writes a question in Spanish: “¿DEFACIMENTO?” Who is defacing what? And was the weapon a nightstick or a felt tip pen; was it the 14th Street subway station wall that was defaced, or was it the defacing of a man?

All the time, Basquiat was becoming more successful, more wealthy and famous. And yet he still couldn’t reliably hail a cab in the street. Fine: limos instead. He bought expensive wines, Armani suits to paint in, like any artist who has suddenly made it big, yet the anecdotes about his spending were passed on with a casual glaze of racism, as if there was something unusually revealing about his appetites.

It was lonely, he was lonely, the only black man in the room, his prodigy status like that of a toy. “They’re just racist, most of those people,” he’s quoted as saying in Dieter Buchhart’s Now’s the Time (Prestel). “So they have this image of me: wild man running – you know, wild monkey man, whatever the fuck they think.”

One of his closest friends in the years of his success was Andy Warhol . The first time Warhol mentioned Basquiat in his diary, on 4 October 1982, was as “one of those kids who drive me crazy”. It didn’t take long, though, before they were embroiled in a full-blown friend-romance, among the most intimate and lasting of both their lives. They collaborated on more than 140 paintings (this fertile partnership ended in 1985, after Basquiat was stung by a bad review of their joint show at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery), worked out and went to parties, had manicures and talked on the phone for hours. Those who believe Warhol incapable of tenderness might take a look at his diary, as he frets endlessly over Basquiat’s gargantuan drug consumption, the way he nods out on the Factory floor, falling asleep as he ties his shoes.

There was nothing heroic or glamorous about Basquiat’s addiction. It came with the usual detritus: hitting girlfriends, accruing debts, falling out with beloved friends. He tried to stop but couldn’t, and in the end he died in the apartment he rented from Warhol on Great Jones Street, of acute mixed drug intoxication. In its obituary, the New York Times observed that Warhol’s death the preceding year “removed one of the few reins on Mr Basquiat’s mercurial behaviour and appetite for narcotics”.

Maybe so, but in 1988, a somnolent, junk-sick, grieving last year, he assembled masterpieces, among them Eroica , with its intricate map of heroes and villains, some barely visible beneath the black and white pentimenti, the repentance marks that Basquiat made his signature. Among the vanishing names is Tennessee Williams , another prodigy who died of his addictions, who had tried to express how and for whom power functions in the US.

These days Basquiat is among the most expensive artists in the world; these days his images are franchised, replicated everywhere from Urban Decay blusher pots to Reebok trainers. You could scorn the commercialisation, but isn’t it what he wanted, to colour every surface with his runes?

They are doing his spells for him and it could hardly be more necessary, since the forces that he arranged himself against are unequivocally on the rise, since white men are parading unmasked and with torches through the streets of Charlottesville and Boston, chanting “blood and soil”.

“Who do you make a painting for?” he was asked in a filmed interview in October 1985, and he was silent for a long time. “Do you make it for you?” the interviewer continued. “I think I make it for myself, but ultimately for the world you know,” Basquiat said, and the interviewer asked him if he had a picture of what that world might be. “Just any person,” he said, because he knew that change is coming all the time, from everywhere, and that if those of us who are leaning on the doors get out the way, freedom might be a possibility – yeah, boom for real.

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The archive documnets and curates publicly available artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat. We find these artwork from verified sources including museums, exhibitions, and auction houses. We currently showcase 200+ artwork and will continue to add new ones over time.

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The story behind Portrait of A-One A.K.A. King, 1982

Portrait of A-One A.K.A. King was executed in 1982, during the turning point of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s career. 1982 was a pivotal year for Basquiat, as it marked his transition from the street culture to the fine art world. He also had his first solo show of his career, which earned a lot of accolades from the art community.

As you may tell by the title of the painting, it portrays his close friend, frequent collaborator, and fellow New York street graffiti artist A-One (Anthony Clarke), standing beside a chair, in front of a wall covered in graffiti tags. This is one of the two Basquiat paintings of the artist, with the other one being executed in 1985.

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Dec 22, 1960 - aug 12, 1988, life with basquiat, man from naples, a work by jean-michel basquiat, guggenheim bilbao, discover this artist, related works from the web, riding with death (1988), www.wikiart.org riding with death, 1988 - jean-michel basquiat - wikiart.org, hollywood africans (1983), www.wikiart.org hollywood africans, 1983 - jean-michel basquiat - wikiart.org, bird on money (1981), en.wikipedia.org bird on money - wikipedia, irony of negro policeman (1981), en.wikipedia.org irony of negro policeman - wikipedia, dustheads (1982), en.wikipedia.org dustheads - wikipedia, untitled (1982), en.wikipedia.org untitled (1982 basquiat skull painting) - wikipedia, horn players (1983), www.wikiart.org horn players, 1983 - jean-michel basquiat - wikiart.org, boy and dog in a johnnypump (1982), en.wikipedia.org boy and dog in a johnnypump - wikipedia, la hara (1981), en.wikipedia.org la hara - wikipedia, untitled (1981), en.wikipedia.org untitled (skull) - wikipedia, “i don’t listen to what art critics say. i don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”, more artists, shepard fairey, kara walker, kenny scharf, keith haring, andy warhol, more art movements, neo-expressionism, primitivism, contemporary art, 19,041 items, more mediums, acrylic paint, 9,123 items, 54,521 items, 52,468 items.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Horn Players

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Horn Players , 1983, acrylic and oil stick on three canvas panels mounted on wood supports, 243.8 x 190.5 cm ( The Broad Art Foundation ) © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1983 painting Horn Players shows us all the main stylistic features we have come to expect from this renowned American artist. In addition to half-length portraits on the left and right panels of this triptych (a painting consisting of three joined panels), the artist has included several drawings and words—many of which Basquiat drew and then crossed out. On each panel we also notice large swaths of white paint, which seem to simultaneously highlight the black background and obscure the drawings and/or words beneath. Most notable perhaps is the preponderance of repeated words like “DIZZY,” “ORNITHOLOGY,” “PREE” and “TEETH” that the artist has scattered across all three panels of this work.

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie

Despite the seeming disorder of the composition, however, it is clear that the main subjects of Horn Players are two famous jazz musicians—the saxophonist Charlie Parker and the trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who Basquiat has depicted in both linguistic and visual portraits. On the left of the canvas, the artist has drawn the figure of Parker, holding his saxophone which emits several hot pink musical notes and distorted waves of sound. We see Dizzy Gillespie in the right panel, who holds a silent instrument alongside his torso. The words “DOH SHOO DE OBEE” that float to the left of the figure’s head call to mind the scat (wordless improvisational) singing Gillespie often performed onstage.

“CHAN,” “ORNITHOLOGY,” and “PREE,” Jean-Michel Basquiat, Horn Players (detail), 1983, acrylic and oil stick on three canvas panels mounted on wood supports, 243.8 x 190.5 cm ( The Broad Art Foundation ) © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Many of the words Basquiat has written on the canvas relate specifically to Charlie Parker, but they make sense only for those viewers with some knowledge of the musician’s life. For example, the literal meaning of “ORNITHOLOGY” is “the study of birds,” but this is also the title of a famous composition by Parker, who named the tune (first recorded in 1946) in reference to his own nickname “Bird.” The words “PREE” and “CHAN” that we see written above and below the saxophonist’s portrait refer to Parker’s infant daughter and common-law wife, respectively.

Jean-Michel Basquiat posing next to SAMO graffiti

Basquiat and wordplay

This kind of wordplay is a characteristic that extends across most of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work. One of the most recognizable features of the artist’s more than 2000 paintings and drawings is the overwhelming abundance of written words on the canvas. The art historian Robert Farris Thompson once declared: “It’s as if he were dripping letters.” [1] Before his success as a painter, Basquiat was famous for writing on the walls of lower Manhattan as a teenager when he and a high school friend, Al Diaz, left cryptic messages in spray paint under the name “SAMO” (an acronym for “Same Old Shit”) from 1977 until 1979.

As SAMO, Basquiat and Diaz wrote maxims, jokes, and prophecies in marker and spray paint on subway trains throughout New York City (particularly the “D” train, which ran between downtown Manhattan and Basquiat’s home in Brooklyn), as well as on the walls and sidewalks in the SoHo and Tribeca neighborhoods. Many of the locations where SAMO writings were to be found were in close proximity to prominent art galleries. Combined with these strategic positions, phrases like “SAMO AS AN END TO PLAYING ART” or “SAMO FOR THE SO-CALLED AVANT-GARDE” presented the “SAMO” persona as outside the commercial art world and critical of it. In fact, even after relinquishing the SAMO persona and emerging to the art world as Jean-Michel Basquiat, the artist remained an outsider to the mainstream art world, despite his meteoric rise on the art auction block.

“The Black Picasso”

Basquiat went from “SAMO” to commercial success at warp speed in the early 1980s. He first exhibited (still under the name SAMO) at the Times Square Show—an exhibition in June 1980 that marked the genesis of the eighties art movement. He was later invited to exhibit in New York/New Wave , a group show of sixteen hundred works by 119 artists that opened at P.S. 1 on Valentine’s Day. The show was affectionately called “The Armory Show” of the 1980s.

Almost immediately afterward, the young Basquiat (at this point just 20 years old) was invited to exhibit in his first solo show in Modena, Italy. The gallerist Annina Nosei, who showed more established artists like David Salle and Richard Prince, agreed to represent Basquiat, who had a one-man show at her gallery the next year. That same year, Basquiat had exhibitions in Los Angeles, Zurich, Rome, and Rotterdam and became the youngest artist invited to participate in Documenta 7. By 1983 the average sale price of Basquiat’s work had increased by 600 percent, and his popularity (both in the auction house and in popular culture) persists even today. You can buy his images on shirts and hats from popular retail outlets and his large paintings sell at auction for more than $20 million.

Based on his meteoric success, critics referred to Jean-Michel Basquiat as “the Black Picasso.” The nickname was complicated for Basquiat, who never embraced it, but was nevertheless concerned with his own place within art history. He often relied on textbooks and other sources for his visual material; most biographies of the artist note his reliance on the medical textbook Gray’s Anatomy (a gift from the artist’s mother when Basquiat was hospitalized as a child) for the anatomical drawings and references we see on many of his surfaces. Basquiat also appropriated the work of Leonardo , Édouard Manet , and Pablo Picasso into his own compositions. These appropriations were in part an homage to the great painters Basquiat admired, but they also were a way for Basquiat to rewrite art history and insert himself into the canon.

Pablo Picasso, Three Musicians , 1921, oil on canvas, 200.7 x 222.9 cm ( The Museum of Modern Art )

Looking again at Horn Players , for example, reveals several connections to Picasso’s Three Musicians . Basquiat’s use of the triptych format—a popular device for the artist in this period—echoes the triple subjects of the Picasso image. The figure of Parker in Basquiat’s composition is also reproduced in the same position as the standing figure (playing the clarinet) in Picasso’s work.

Left: Pablo Picasso, Three Musicians (detail), 1921, oil on canvas, 200.7 x 222.9 cm ( The Museum of Modern Art ); right: Jean-Michel Basquiat, Horn Players (detail), 1983, acrylic and oil stick on three canvas panels mounted on wood supports, 243.8 x 190.5 cm ( The Broad Art Foundation ) © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

The central panel of Basquiat’s canvas, which does not show a portrait of an identifiable musician like the other two panels, but instead a distorted head with roughly outlined features, suddenly comes into focus via its comparison with Three Musicians . Here Picasso references in paint, his earlier experiments with paper collage especially in rendering the face and head of his central figure, whose jawline dramatically extends beyond what is anatomically possible to create an abstract, bulbous shape. Basquiat’s central figure bears a similar protrusion—this time from the top of the head—which he fills in with hatch marks that are suggestive of the patterning of Picasso’s “collaged” paper. Once again, Basquiat seems to be speaking in code. This time, we are being asked not only to draw upon our knowledge of music history but of modern painting to fully understand his work.

Basquiat’s musicians

Musicians were a popular subject for Basquiat, who himself played briefly in a noise band called Gray—likely a reference to the Gray’s Anatomy textbook. Jazz musicians began to appear in the artist’s paintings around 1982; references to jazz musicians or recordings appear in more than thirty large-format paintings and twenty works on paper. Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie are the two musicians who appear most frequently, both as figures in the paintings and through linguistic references to their work. The artist painted canvases with figures playing the trumpet, the saxophone, and the drums. He also devoted several canvases to replicating the labels of jazz records or the discographies of musicians.

Many scholars have connected Basquiat’s interest in jazz to a larger investment in African American popular culture (for example, he also painted famous African American athletes) but an alternative explanation is that the young Basquiat looked to jazz music for inspiration and for instruction, much in the same way that he looked to the modern masters of painting. Parker, Gillespie, and the other musicians of the bebop era infamously appropriated both the harmonic structures of jazz standards, using them as a structure for their own songs, and repeated similar note patterns across several improvisations. Basquiat used similar techniques of appropriation throughout his career as a painter.

[1] Robert Farris Thompson and Renee Ricard, Jean-Michel Basquiat (Gagosian Gallery, 2015).

Bibliography

Basquiat from The Art Story

New York/New Wave exhibition at MoMA PS1 in 1981

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Virtual Travel

A Smithsonian magazine special report

See Jean-Michel Basquiat Masterpieces Up Close in This Online Exhibition

The virtual experience spotlights a 2019 show that included around 70 works by the artist

Nora McGreevy

Correspondent

American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat lived a short but prolific life, producing more than 1,000 paintings and 2,000 drawings in less than a decade. Thanks to his bold, Neo-Expressionist paintings, which dealt with themes of colonialism, genius, race, creativity and oppression, he quickly rose from humble beginnings in the underground graffiti scene to stardom in the white-dominated art world of 1980s New York City.

Basquiat died of a heroin overdose in 1988 at just 27 years old. But the art world’s enthusiasm for his works continued to soar in the decades following his passing. Last year, the Brant Foundation Art Study Center in Manhattan’s East Village united almost 70 of the artist’s paintings in “ Jean-Michel Basquiat ,” a major solo exhibition on view from March 6 to May 14.

Now, art enthusiasts can take a free virtual tour of the show via the foundation’s website , reports Thom Waite for Dazed . Highlights include some of Basquiat’s largest works, including Grillo (1984) and Price of Gasoline in the Third World , a 1982 creation that tackles issues raised by colonization.

The 2019 show took place in a renovated former Con Edison power substation near Basquiat’s old stomping grounds, reviewer Phoebe Hoban pointed out for Vulture last March. One of Basquiat’s first breakthrough exhibitions—a 1982 show at the FUN Gallery —took place just a few blocks away.

As Martha Schwendener observed in the New York Times ’ review of of “Jean-Michel Basquiat,” gentrification has rendered the East Village the artist knew virtually invisible.

“It’s great to see Basquiat in the East Village—although, with its new condominiums, steep rents, and expensive restaurants, it barely resembles the neighborhood he inhabited 40 years ago,” she wrote.

Curator Dieter Buchhart oversaw the 2019 exhibition, which was organized in collaboration with Fondation Louis Vuitton and included works from industrialist and newspaper tycoon Peter Brant ’s personal collection. Brant was an early collector of Basquiat’s works, and he later purchased Interview magazine , which Andy Warhol famously co-founded in 1969. (Basquiat and Warhol were close friends , enjoying a “profoundly symbiotic and mutually beneficial creative relationship,” according to Sotheby’s .)

“Basquiat’s complex oeuvre has established him as one of the most important innovators in modern art, even thirty years after his death,” said Brant in a 2019 statement . “Numerous recent retrospectives have spotlighted his radical approach, illuminating his interdisciplinary contributions to music, poetry, performance, and art and cementing him as one of the most forward-thinking artists of his generation, whose complex engagement with social and political questions makes him more relevant than ever.”

The artist was known for scribbling words and phrases, often deliberately misspelled or crossed out, in his paintings. Numerous examples of this practice appear in the 2019 exhibition.

Untitled , a 1982 work that depicts a grimacing skull rendered in thick black lines in front of an electric blue background, hangs in a corner on the second floor of the show. In 2017, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa​ made headlines by bidding $110.5 million for the canvas, which became the most expensive work by an American artist ever purchased at auction, as Brigit Katz reported for Smithsonian magazine at the time.

Writing for artnet News in 2018, Ben Davis described Untitled as a deliberate evocation of “the look of defaced subway walls or bathroom stalls; mark-making that is public but also unsanitized, and in guerrilla competition for your attention.”

He concluded, “In a way, Untitled (1982) is built to be what it has become, a high-energy icon that can spread easily as a media image. But at the same time it also whispers that it doesn’t want to be reduced to just that; it doesn’t just want to be looked at, it wants to be seen .”

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Nora McGreevy | | READ MORE

Nora McGreevy is a former daily correspondent for Smithsonian . She is also a freelance journalist based in Chicago whose work has appeared in Wired , Washingtonian , the Boston Globe , South Bend Tribune , the New York Times and more.

A Deep Dive into Basquiat's Materials and Techniques

Rebecca Marsham , Sales Director [email protected]

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Jean-Michel Basquiat is one of the most celebrated and iconic artists of the 20th century, known for his unique blend of graffiti, street art , and neo-expressionism. Spanning less than a decade, his short but prolific career produced some of the most groundbreaking works of art of his generation. Basquiat's work is characterised by its raw power, emotional depth, and political commentary, reflecting his experiences as a black man growing up in a world that often ignored or rejected his voice. However, one aspect of Basquiat's art that often goes overlooked is his innovative use of materials and techniques. Employing a range of materials in his work, from found objects to traditional painting materials, Basquiat's art is testament to his creativity and resourcefulness and exemplifies how he created some of the most iconic artworks of his generation.

The Power of Basquiat's Materials: A Look into his Artistic Process

Basquiat's choice of materials played a significant role in his artistic process and the evolution of his style. From his early days as a street artist to his rise as an art world sensation, Basquiat experimented with a range of materials , including spray paint, acrylic, oil stick, and everyday objects. He even painted on unconventional surfaces like doors, boxes, and pieces of wood.

Basquiat's use of materials was more than just a matter of preference. By incorporating everyday objects into his work, layers of meaning were being added to his art pieces. From old books to discarded doors, these unorthodox materials allowed him to create a textured, expressive style that emphasised the rawness of his subject matter. The artists' use of bright colours, bold lines, and thick textures allowed him to powerfully convey the energy and emotion of his subjects.

Charles The First is one of many examples, with Basquiat using a mix of materials, including acrylic, oil stick, and spray paint, to create a dynamic, layered work that captures the intensity of his subject. The use of vibrant colours and thick brushstrokes emphasise the power and authority of the figure, whilst the inclusion of found objects, like the cardboard box in the upper left corner, adds a layer of social commentary to the piece.

The Dynamic Techniques of Basquiat

Visually captivating and emotive, Basquiat's art is recognised for its unique and dynamic techniques - one of the most notable being the range of media used to create striking contrasts within a single piece. Another technique he used often held a focus on the range of marks and gestures. From simple lines and dots to bold, sweeping strokes, his mark-making creates evidence of expression within his art.

These techniques allowed Basquiat to create works that were layered with meaning and emotion, with a raw and intense energy that drew viewers in. His use of text, symbols, and iconography was also significant, as he often included phrases and references to cultural figures and events that commented on contemporary society.

Basquiat's techniques and unique style were influential in the art world, inspiring a new generation of artists to experiment with new materials and modes of expression. His use of unconventional materials and his embrace of imperfections and chance elements has also been cited as an influence on the contemporary art scen e.

One of the most famous examples of Basquiat's techniques is his work Untitled (Head) , which was completed in 1982 and features a skull rendered in bold, gestural strokes and layered with text and symbols. The piece is a powerful example of his ability to combine different materials and techniques to create a work that is both visually striking and thematically rich.

Decoding Basquiat's Bold and Innovative Artistic Style

Basquiat was an iconoclastic artist who pioneered a new style of art that blended graffiti, street culture, and neo-expressionism. His style was heavily influenced by his surroundings, as he grew up in the gritty and vibrant atmosphere of New York City.

One of the most unique elements of Basquiat's style was his use of textual elements. He frequently included words and phrases, sometimes in a haphazard or seemingly random manner, to convey messages and themes. His use of symbols and imagery also added a distinctive dimension to his works. Basquiat often incorporated elements of African art and mythology, which gave his works a primal, otherworldly quality.

Basquiat's style evolved over the years, as he gained more recognition and honed his craft. In his earlier works, he tended to rely more on text and simple imagery, but as he progressed, his style became more complex and nuanced. He began to experiment with different mediums, including oil paint, acrylic, and mixed media, and his use of colour became more sophisticated.

Overall, Basquiat's art style was a radical departure from the norms of the art world, and his unique approach to art-making has influenced generations of artists that have followed in his footsteps. As he himself once said, “I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.”

Basquiat's Creativity: The Roots and Sources of His Inspiration

Basquiat's artistic genius was fuelled by a rich mix of cultural influences. From his Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage to the vibrant music and art scenes of downtown New York City, his eclectic background and diverse interests are reflected in his art.

African art and jazz music had a significant impact on Basquiat's work, particularly his use of bold, graphic lines and vibrant colours. His love of jazz, which he often listened to while painting, inspired him to experiment with improvisation and spontaneity in his art.

Basquiat was also deeply influenced by the African diaspora, drawing inspiration from African masks, textiles, and symbols . The incorporation of these motifs into his work helped to challenge traditional art world hierarchies and highlight the contributions of marginalised cultures.

His sources of inspiration influenced his style and themes, resulting in a body of work that tackled issues of race, power, and social justice . Charles The First is a powerful critique of the commodification of black bodies in Western art. Through his work, Basquiat broke down barriers and expanded the definition of what art could be. His legacy continues to inspire artists today, a testament to the enduring power of his creativity.

Unpacking the Layers of Basquiat's Untitled (1982)

Basquiat's Untitled (1982) is one of the most iconic pieces of art from the neo-expressionist movement. The painting features a powerful image of a skull, with Basquiat's signature graffiti-style handwriting overlaid on top of a textured canvas.

Basquiat used a variety of materials and techniques to create this painting. He used acrylic, oil stick, and spray paint to create the vibrant colours, bold lines, and scribbled words. The canvas itself has a unique texture, with layers of paint and scribbles creating a sense of depth and complexity.

The skull is a recurring motif in Basquiat's work, representing mortality, violence, and the African diaspora. The handwritten words and symbols add layers of meaning to the painting, with references to art history, popular culture, and Basquiat's personal experiences.

Untitled (1982) is a masterpiece that showcases Basquiat's unique artistic vision and technical skill. Realising a price of $110,487,500 at Sotheby's New York in 2017, the painting has become a cultural icon and has inspired a new generation of artists and art lovers. Basquiat, who was 21-years-old when he painted Untitled , is the youngest artist to eclipse the $100 million mark. It is also the first work made after 1980 to sell for more than $100 million, surpassing Andy Warhol's $105 million auction record for Silver Car Crash (Double Disaster) , and becoming the sixth-most expensive work ever auctioned.

In deconstructing Basquiat's vision, it is evident that he had a profound impact on the art world, breaking down barriers and creating a new artistic language that transcended traditional boundaries. As Basquiat once said, “I am not a black artist, I am an artist.”

Basquiat's Enduring Influence

Basquiat's brief but impactful career had a profound effect on the art world, propelling him to become one of the most celebrated artists of the 1980s. Basquiat's influence on contemporary art and culture cannot be overstated, as by giving a voice to issues of race, class, and power he undoubtedly became an icon of the downtown New York street art art scene.

Basquiat's unique materials and techniques continue to inspire artists today. Using found objects and everyday items in his paintings, such as doors, windows, and clothing, created textured surfaces that added depth and meaning to his work. His use of symbols and text also added to the complexity and layered meanings in his paintings.

Basquiat's impact can be seen in the work of artists such as KAWS , Banksy , and Shepard Fairey , who continue to push the boundaries of art and culture in new and exciting ways. Basquiat's legacy lives on, inspiring artists and collectors alike to continue to explore new materials and techniques and challenge the status quo.

If you’re looking to buy a Basquiat print, our buyer’s guide to Jean-Michel Basquiat is the perfect place to start your search.

Exploring Basquiat's materials and techniques provides a deeper understanding of the artist's unique style and the impact he has had on the art world. Through the use of unconventional materials and techniques such as found objects and graffiti-inspired marks, Basquiat created a raw and powerful aesthetic that challenged traditional notions of fine art. By examining his creative and physical processes we are able to appreciate the depth and complexity of his work.

Basquiat's ability to merge different materials and techniques reflects his diverse background and personal experiences, and this is what makes his art so powerful and relevant today. He has influenced generations of artists and continues to inspire and captivate audiences around the world.

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A Buyer’s Guide To Jean-Michel Basquiat

A Seller’s Guide To Jean-Michel Basquiat

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All artists

• Jean-Michel Basquiat

Irony of Negro Policeman

Pez dispenser, obnoxious liberals, hollywood africans, untitled boxer, king alphonso, bird on money.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat Paintings

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Jean-Michel Basquiat is iconic for two reasons which amount to the same thing: he was a black artist and he painted in a way that recognised and popularised black heritage in art.

Part of the 1970s-80s Neo-Expressionist art movement, Basquiat's paintings are full of frenetic but also very directed energy and vivid simple colours. The resulting works appear raw and unfocused, but in truth that is the opposite of what they are. To consider them so is to ignore their context, their impact and most significantly the concepts that give them depth. Basquiat's use of imagery and motifs suggestive of African art made it easy to stereotype him as a black artist but he was keen to be known simply as an artist. This antagonism between how he wanted to present himself and how he was pigeon-holed by others is documented through his work. The exploration of subject matter in his paintings is also an exploration of himself and how he responds to what he is representing.

His work is confrontational, demanding a response from its viewers - it is not easy to ignore; through it we understand his internal struggles. Throughout his career Basquiat had a love-hate relationship with the art establishment. His early career in street art (he collaborated with Al Diaz until 1980 under the tag SAMO) followed by his entry into the gallery world was a knife edge - he was accused of selling out by one world and never compromised himself enough to 'fit into' the other. This conflict between his past and his present is reflected within his work. His paintings reflect and comment on the conflict inherent in the human experience. There has been a plethora of artists over the years, particularly in more recent years, who have struggled with finding a comfortable position for their work, which helps them to achieve success whilst also allowing their original intentions and aims to remain pure and present.

Basquiat's paintings produced an iconography which feels truly modern, whilst also taking inspiration from different styles of art going back many centuries. He studied African art in detail, as well as western art, as shown in his abstract depiction of Italian Mannnerist painter, Titian . European art itself has long since been influenced from ideas found abroad, be it in Africa, South America or Asia. Our famous New Yorker produced a new take on this idea, combining what had gone before with his own personal culture that was a fusion of different things. The cycle of art history then continues onwards through to the next generation, with the likes of Banksy in the UK taking great inspiration and ideas from this maveric artist's short but groundbreaking career. Sometimes, both in art and music, those that die youngest, leave the greatest impact behind - it is as if their creative peak remains in a permanent state forever.

Riddle Me This Batman

Horn Players

Self-Portrait

Untitled (Fallen Angel)

Poison Oasis

Two Heads on Gold

Riding with Death

Untitled, 1982 (Crown)

Dos Cabezas

Sugar Ray Robinson

Charles the First

Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump

50 Cent Piece

All Colored Cast (Part III)

Black Tar and Feathers

Boxer Rebellion

Caucasian, Negro

Created Equal

Dog Leg Study

Dwellers in the Marshes

Eyes and Eggs

Gringo Pilot (Anola Gay)

Head (1981)

History of the Black People

In this Case

J's Milagro

Jawbone of an Ass

King Pleasure

Large Body of Water

Maid from Olympia

Melting Point of Ice

Mitchell Crew

Napoleon Stereotype as Portrayed

Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari

Not Detected

Pelptic Ulcer

Philistines

Piscine versus The Best Hotels

Portrait of the Artist as a Young Derelict

Rice and Chicken

Santo versus Second Avenue

Self Portrait (1982)

Self Portrait (1984)

Self Portrait (1986)

Self Portrait as a Heel, Part Two

Skin Head Wig

Slave Auction

Television and Cruelty to Animals

The Comic Book

The Dingoes That Park Their Brains with their Gum

The Guilt of Gold Teeth

To be Titled

To Repels Ghosts

Unbleached Titanium

Undiscovered Genius

Untitled (1980)

Untitled (1982)

Untitled II (1982)

Wine of Babylon

Wolf Sausage

The impact of samo on basquiat.

From 1976-1979 Basquiat and Al Diaz tagged Manhattan, signing themselves as SAMO. The tags came with pithy soundbites such as "SAMO does not cause cancer in laboratory animals" or "SAMO for those of us who merely tolerate civilization." The impact of this direct way of expressing an idea to is visible in Basquiat's paintings. His work retained the sense of speed and clear message necessary to make powerful graffiti.

The works themselves are a visual collage, mixing images and words to comment on the world. Pieces such as 'Hollywood Africans' or 'Irony of Negro Policeman' show the use of words to add meaning and to direct the attention of the viewer. Basquiat used words skilfully on his canvases to communicate directly with his audience and to excite a response from them.

Basquiat and Neo-Expressionism

The idea of Neo-Expressionism was to return to sensual expressive painting that rejected the formal rigour and sterility of the abstract Minimalist and Conceptualist art being produced at the time. The deceptively primitive style of Basquiat embodies perfectly the essence of Neo-Expressionism. Drawing on themes of culture, his own history and mythology he used expressive brushstrokes and intense colours to communicate his ideas.

Recurring motifs with Basquiat's paintings include references to African art including the griot (or bard or minstrel) and the venerable crown. The simple and yet iconic crown was used to highlight the special things in his work- as seen in 'Tuxedo' or 'King Alphonso'. When understood as a storyteller it is easy to draw a connection between griot and artist in works such as 'Gold Griot' or 'The Nile,' and thus to recognise its significance to Basquiat.

Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol

Pop Art had reintroduced an interest in certain subject matter and was a rejection of the highbrow, instead using images from popular culture to comment on the culture itself. The sense of mass production in Pop Art reflected Basquiat's early days, producing his own style of baseball cards by xeroxing small pieces of his art and then selling the results for $1 a piece. It is therefore unsurprising that Basquiat sought out Andy Warhol and that the two collaborated together producing works such as 'Arm and Hammer' and 'Olympics' which mix the styles of Pop Art and Neo-Expressionism.

In truth these pieces showcase more about Jean-Michel Basquiat than they do Warhol. Basquiat's vision and art overrun the paintings, almost flooding out the input of Warhol. The sense that he never compromised himself- even for a grand master of his craft - is very clear here. So too is his personal visual language. The use of script and motifs remains, with Warhol's work becoming simply another part of Basquiat's visual collage.

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About The Artist

“If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you’ve got to realize that influence is not influence. It’s simply someone’s idea going through my new mind.”

                  – Jean-Michel Basquiat

Early Life 1960 - 1970

December 22, Jean-Michel Basquiat born at Brooklyn Hospital, New York. His father, Gerard Basquiat, born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; his mother, Matilde Andrades, born in Brooklyn of Puerto Rican parents. The Basquiats live in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

Sister, Lisane, is born in Brooklyn.

At an early age, Basquiat shows an affinity for drawing, often using paper his father brings home from the accounting firm where he works to make drawings inspired by television cartoons. His mother has a strong interest in fashion design and sketching, and she frequently draws with Basquiat.

“His mother got him started and she pushed him. She was actually a very good artist” (Gerard Basquiat). 1

With his mother, Basquiat often visits The Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art. His mother continues to encourage his interest in art and emphasizes the importance of education. Basquiat attends kindergarten at a Head Start Project school.

“I’d say my mother gave me all the primary things. The art came from her” (Basquiat). 2

The Basquiat family moves to East 35th Street in the East Flatbush section of Brooklyn. Sister, Jeanine, is born.

Basquiat continues to make cartoonlike drawings inspired by Alfred Hitchcock films, automobiles, comic books, and the Alfred E. Newman character from Mad.

“He was always so bright, absolutely an unbelievable mind …. He drew and painted all of his life from the time he was three or four years old” (Gerard Basquiat). 3

In May, while playing ball in the street, Basquiat is hit by an automobile. He breaks an arm, suffers various internal injuries, and has to have his spleen removed. He is hospitalized at King’s County Hospital for one month. While recovering, he receives a copy of Gray’s Anatomy from his mother. The book makes a lasting impression; its influence is found in Basquiat’s later work with anatomical drawings and prints and in the name of the band he co-founded in 1979, Gray.

Gerard and Matilde Basquiat separate. The seven-year-old Basquiat lives with his father and two sisters in East Flatbush.

Image Credit: ‘Notes’ © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Gerard Basquiat and his three children move to the Boerum Hill section of Brooklyn. Basquiat leaves St. Ann’s for public school, P.S. 181, the first of many New York City public schools he will attend, including P.S. 6, 101,45, and I.S. 293.

Due to a job promotion and relocation, Gerard Basquiat moves with his three children to Mira Mar, Puerto Rico, near San Juan, where Basquiat attends an Episcopalian school.

Basquiat runs away from home, staying for a few hours at a local radio station until the employees call his father, who immediately brings him home.

”Jean-Michel did not like obedience. He gave me a lot of trouble” (Gerard Basquiat).4

On Thanksgiving Day, after a job transfer, Gerard Basquiat and his three children return from Puerto Rico to live in their Boerum Hill brownstone. Basquiat resumes schooling at Edward R. Murrow High School.

After a few weeks, he transfers to the City-as-School, a progressive school in Manhattan. Part of the New York City public school system, the City-as-School is an alternative high school where work-study internships are accepted as credit toward a high school degree. Designed for gifted and talented children who find the traditional educational process difficult, it is based on John Dewey’s theory that students learn by doing. At City-as- School, Basquiat meets Al Diaz, a graffitist from the Jacob Riis Projects on the Lower East Side; they become close friends and early artistic collaborators.  

In December, Basquiat again runs away, this time for about two weeks, hanging out in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, a place he and Diaz would often frequent. After much searching, Gerard Basquiat finds him and brings him home. Basquiat proclaims, “Papa, I will be very, very famous one day. 5

“I left home at 15, and went to Washington Square Park. I just sat there dropping acid …. Now that all seems boring; it eats your mind up” (Basquiat). 6

Photo Credit: Downtown 81 (New York Beat) © New York Beat Film LLC.© The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat Photo by Edo Bertoglio 

Through the City-as-School, Basquiat becomes involved with an Upper West Side drama group called Family Life Theater. During this time, he creates a fictional character named SAMO (Same Old Shit), who makes a living selling a fake religion. Basquiat and Diaz, among the most popular students at City-as-School, both very creative and with a knack for getting into a lot of trouble, begin collaborating on the SAMO project as “a way of letting off steam.” 7

They begin spray-painting aphorisms on the D train of the IND line and around lower Manhattan. The writings consist of witty philosophical poems: SAMO as an end to mindwash religion nowhere politics, and bogus philosophy,” “SAMO saves idiots, Plush safe he think; SAMO.

“The stuff you see on the subways now is inane. Scribbled. SAMO was like a refresher course because there’s some kind of statement being made” (Al Diaz). 8

Nora Fitzpatrick begins residing with Gerard Basquiat. She becomes a maternal figure, and friend, to the younger Basquiat.

At Diaz’s graduation from the City-as-School in June, Basquiat, on a dare, prepares a box full of shaving cream, and while the principal is speaking he runs up to the podium and dumps the box on his head. Although only a year away from graduating, Basquiat feels there is “no point in going back.” 9

In June, Basquiat leaves home for good. Gerard Basquiat, with some trepidation, gives his son money with the understanding that he will try his best to succeed.

Basquiat’s fascination with stardom and “burning out” is a recurring subject in his life. Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, two people whose work and artistic achievement Basquiat admires, had both died of drug overdoses at the age of twenty- seven in 1970. His admiration for musicians, singers, and boxers like Joplin, Hendrix, Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Joe Louis is shown later in various paintings.

“Jean-Michel was planning to be a star” (Gerard Basquiat). 10

“Since I was seventeen, I thought I might be a star. I’d think about all my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix …. I had a romantic feeling of how people had become famous” (Basquiat). 11

Basquiat stays at the homes of various friends, frequently at the Canal Street loft of British artist Stan Peskett, who throws parties that bring the uptown graffitists, including Fred Braithwaite and Lee Quinones, downtown, although more for the exchange of musical ideas than art. At these parties, Basquiat also meets Michael Holman, a future member of Gray, and Danny Rosen, who immediately becomes a companion on the downtown club scene. Basquiat, Rosen, Holman, and Vincent Gallo, who would also join Gray, are referred to as the “baby crowd” at the clubs.

“They were gorgeous, extremely stylish, and danced fantastically” (Edit DeAk).12

Photo Credit: Basquiat with Untitled (Julius Caesar on Gold) (1981; left) and Untitled (L.A. Painting) (1982; ground), New York, c. 1981 © Pierre Houlès

Basquiat begins to sell hand-painted postcards and T-shirts to make a little money. He approaches Andy Warhol and Henry Geldzahler inside the SoHo restaurant WPA; he sells a postcard to Warhol but Geldzahler dismisses him as “too young.” 13

Basquiat begins dating Alexis Adler and the two often stay together at friends’ houses in downtown Manhattan. They live for a while in the apartment of their close friend Felice Ralster, until Basquiat becomes unbearable because he writes and draws over everything in the apartment.

“Basquiat painted on anything he could get his hands on: refrigerators, laboratory coats, cardboard boxes, and doors” (Mary Ann Monforton). 14  

Basquiat and Adler move into a small apartment at 527 East 12th Street, his first fixed address. During this time, he becomes a regular among a crowd of filmmakers, musicians, and artists that hang out at the “new” downtown spots: the Mudd Club, Club 57, CBGB’s, Hurrah’s, and Tier 3. Along with Patti Astor, co-founder of the Fun Gallery, David Byrne, Blondie, Madonna, Tina Lhotsky, the B-52s, John Lurie, Diego Cortez, Edit DeAk, Ann Magnuson, and John Sex, Basquiat regularly makes the scene at the Mudd Club.

At the same time, a cultural aesthetic is flowering uptown in the streets of Harlem and the basements of the South Bronx: rap, graffiti, and breakin’ -the roots of hip-hop culture. Fred Braithwaite notes that “the scene downtown … was pretty much all white except for me, Jean-Michel, and a few other people.”15

As Basquiat saw it, “there’s not enough black people downtown in this … whatever it is, pseudo art bullshit.” 16

Shortly after the article in The Village Voice, Basquiat and Diaz have a falling out that ends the SAMO collaboration, and “SAMO is dead” begins appearing on various SoHo walls.

“Jean-Michel saw SAMO as a vehicle, the graffiti was an advertisement for himself. … all of a sudden he just started taking it over” (Al Diaz). 20

Basquiat concentrates on painting T-shirts and making postcards, drawings, and collages. They display a combination of graffiti art and Abstract Expressionism, and focus on baseball players, the Kennedy assassination, and consumer items such as Pez candy. Basquiat collaborates on many of these with John Sex and Jennifer Stein, and sells the work in Washington Square Park, around SoHo, and in front of The Museum of Modern Art.

Photo Credit: Henry Flynt ‘The SAMO© Graffiti Portfolio, 1979-91’, ‘Boom For Real’ Catalogue

In May, Basquiat, along with Michael Holman, Shannon Dawson, and Vincent Gallo form the band Channel 9, later renamed Test Pattern, then Gray. They are subsequently joined by Wayne Clifford and Nick Taylor. Basquiat plays clarinet and synthesizers for the group, which performs a distinct blend of jazz, punk, and synth-pop, often referred to as “noise music.”

“It wasn’t about the level of playing, it was about the sound” (Michael Holman) .21

In the fall, while wandering around the School of Visual Arts, Basquiat meets fellow artists and downtown scenemakers Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf. Haring and Scharf are as much a part of the scene at Club 57 as Basquiat is at the Mudd Club. Basquiat and Haring share an on-again, off-again relationship for the rest of their lives. Basquiat admires the raw, graffiti qualities of Haring’s work, and he sees Haring as truly a part of the graffiti subculture in a way that he is not. After reading “SAMO is dead,” Haring per- forms a eulogy for SAMO at Club 57. In 1988, Haring paints A Pile of Crowns for Jean-Michel Basquiat as a memorial to Basquiat.

Through Fred Braithwaite, Basquiat meets Glenn O’Brien, the producer of TV Party on New York cable television and music editor at Interview. They become good friends, and Basquiat frequently appears on O’Brien’s TV Party.

At the Mudd Club, Basquiat meets Diego Cortez, an artist and filmmaker, who knows people within and outside of the East Village club scene. Cortez takes a liking to Basquiat’s work, sells some drawings, and eventually shows the work to art dealers. He also formally introduces Basquiat to Henry Geldzahler, who becomes a friend and early collector of Basquiat’s art.

“Diego had done a lot … some performance stuff with Laurie Anderson. He was one of the few people who had contacts in both music and art at the Mudd Club”(Glenn O’Brien).22

In June, Basquiat’s art is publicly exhibited for the first time in the “Times Square Show,” a group exhibition held in a vacant building at 41st Street and Seventh Avenue in the Times Square area of New York. The exhibition is organized by Colab (Collaborative Projects Incorporated), an artist-run group based on the Lower East Side, and Fashion Moda, a graffiti-based alternative gallery space in the South Bronx. Like members of the two organizing groups, the conjunction of artists in the show represents two very distinct subcultures: the downtown avant-garde consisting of new wave and neo-pop, and the uptown avant-garde of rap and graffiti.

Some of the other artists in the show are: John Ahearn, Jane Dickson, Mike Glier, Mimi Gross, David Hammons, Jenny Holzer, Joe Lewis, Candace Hill-Montgomery, Tom Otterness, Lee Quinones, Kenny Scharf, Kiki Smith, and Robin Winters.

Photo Credit: Red Kings, 1981 © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

The “Times Square Show” is enthusiastically received by the art world, an early step in legitimizing the artists of the East Village club scene. Basquiat creates a large SAMO installation on a single wall of the space and is one of a few artists discussed in the review for Art in America.

“A patch of wall by SAMO, the omnipresent graffiti sloganeer, was a knock- out combination of de Kooning and subway spray-paint scribbles” (Jeffrey Deitch). 23

Encouraged by the recognition of his artistic talent, Basquiat announces that he is quitting Gray, and the band plays for the last time at the Mudd Club on August 3.

Pictured Here: VNDRZ, 1982  © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

In January, Basquiat and his girlfriend, Suzanne Mallouk, a singer and artist, begin sharing an apartment at 68 East lst Street.

In February, Basquiat is included in “New York/New Wave,” an exhibition organized by Diego Cortez for the large gallery space at P.S. 1, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, in Long Island City. The show includes more than twenty artists, among them Edie Baskin, Keith Haring, Robert Mapplethorpe, Kenny Scharf, Andy Warhol, and the graffiti artists Ali, Crash, Dondi, Fab 5 Freddy (Braithwaite), Haze, Lady Pink, Seen, and Zephyr. Basquiat has high visibility in the show, with a wall on which he installs more than twenty drawings and paintings. These works attract the attention of dealers Emilio Mazzoli, Bruno Bischofberger, and Annina Nosei. The day after the opening of the show, Basquiat returns home to Brooklyn around six in the morning and proclaims, “Papa I’ve made it!” 24

Immediately after the P.S. 1 show, Haring organizes the “Lower Manhattan Drawing Show” at the Mudd Club, for which he selects more than seventy artists, including Basquiat, Charlie Ahearn, Donald Baechler, Fred Braithwaite, Crash, Jane Dickson, Futura 2000, Joe Lewis, Judy Rifka, Kenny Scharf, and Sir Rodney Sur.

In May, Basquiat travels to Europe for the first time, for his first one-artist exhibition, at the Galleria d’Arte Emilio Mazzoli in Modena, Italy. The work is shown under the name SAMO.

Basquiat is invited by Annina Nosei to participate in the group show “Public Address” at her gallery in September. Sociopolitical content is the focus of the exhibition, with works by Bill Beckley, Mike Glier, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, and Peter Nadin. Basquiat is given the entire rear gallery for his paintings, whose subjects include policemen, rabbis, and Native Americans. Following this exhibition, Nosei becomes Basquiat’s primary dealer and, knowing he has no studio space of his own, invites him to use her gallery basement space as a studio.  

The first extensive article on Basquiat, “The Radiant Child,” by Rene Ricard, appears in the December 1981 issue of Artforum. The detailed essay examines the emerging New York artists from the Mudd Club shows, the “Times Square Show,” and “New York/New Wave.” Some of the other artists discussed are John Ahearn, Fred Braithwaite, Francesco Clemente, Dondi, Futura 2000, Keith Haring, Lady Pink, and Judy Rifka.

“I’m always amazed by how people come up with things. Like Jean- Michel. How did he come up with those words he puts all over every-thing.? Their aggressively handmade look fits his peculiarly political sensibility …. Here the possession of almost anything of even marginal value becomes a token of corrupt materialism …. The elegance of Twombly is there but from the same source (graffiti) and so is the brut of the young Dubuffet” (Rene Ricard). 25

Photo Credit: Jean-Michel Basquiat in his studio, New York 1982. Photo by Gianfranco Gorgoni © Maya Gorgoni

In January, Basquiat moves with Suzanne Mallouk to 151 Crosby Street in SoHo, an apartment that Nosei arranges for Basquiat.

Basquiat meets Shenge Kapharoah, an artist from Barbados. The two become inseparable friends, sharing interests in African ideologies and the concerns of artists within the African diaspora, subjects that were not of interest to many of Basquiat’s friends.

“You can see our friendship in the work. The paintings speak for them- selves … Moses and the Egyptians, Charles the First, lines like ‘most kings get their heads chopped off. ‘ This is what we were talking about” (Shenge Kapharoah). 26

In March, Basquiat has his first one-artist exhibition in the United States at the Annina Nosei Gallery. Paintings in this show include Arroz con Pollo, Self-Portrait, Untitled (Per Capita), and Untitled (Two Heads on Gold). The exhibition is a huge success.

Pictured Here: Arroz con Pollo, 1981  © Collection of Felipe Grimberg.

In April, Basquiat travels to Los Angeles for his solo show at the Larry Gagosian Gallery, arranged by Gagosian with Annina Nosei. Paintings exhibited include Six Crimee, Untitled (LA Painting), and Untitled (Yellow Tar and Feathers).

“The traditional substructure of Basquiat’s art is Abstract Expressionism. He piles up rich palimpsests of paint over black grounds or snazzy oranges that are structured with architectonic solidity …. There is never any sense that Basquiat is faking” (William Wilson). 29

Pictured Here: Untitled (Sugar Ray Robinson) , 1982  ©  Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat; courtesy of Robert Miller Gallery, New York

Basquiat stays at the Chateau Marmont and at friends’ houses for about six months. He likes the Los Angeles climate and club scene and is given a friendly initial reception among Los Angeles collectors; Eli and Edythe Broad, Douglas S. Cramer, and Stephane Janssen become early collectors of Basquiat’s work. He returns to Los Angeles at least two or three times a year for the rest of his life.

In June, Basquiat, at age twenty-one, is the youngest of 176 artists invited to participate in the international exhibition “Documenta 7” in Kassel, West Germany. His work is shown with that of such established artists as Joseph Beuys, Anselm Kiefer, A. R. Penck, Gerhard Richter, Cy Twombly, and Andy Warhol, in addition to that of younger artists Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Lee Quinones, and David Salle. Among the paintings shown are Acque Pericolose (Poison Oasis) and Arroz con Pollo.

“Jean-Michel Basquiat … has an inbred compositional sense that verges on good taste, as was particularly evident in his Documenta canvas Acque Pericolose …. his strength comes not so much from the social- commentary aspect of his work (although he has made some unforgettable saints and sinners) … but from his Twomblyesque lyrical qualities” (Noel Frackman and Ruth Kaufmann). 30

Basquiat creates his first portfolio of prints, titled Anatomy. It consists of eighteen silkscreens on paper in an edition of eighteen with seven artist’s proofs, printed by Jo Watanabe and published by the Annina Nosei Gallery.

His first one-artist exhibition at the Galerie Bruno Bischofberger in Zurich opens in September. This exhibition marks the first showing of Basquiat’s exposed corner crossbar paintings. Bischofberger becomes his exclusive dealer in Europe.

In October, an Art in America article by Suzi Gablik entitled “Report from New York: The Graffiti Question” features Basquiat, Braithwaite, Futura 2000, Haring, and Quinones, among others, identifying them as part of the new “graffiti movement” and discussing the emergence of the Lower East Side art scene. The piece is an early attempt to label artists of the 1980s. Basquiat, however, was not a representative graffiti artist because his written messages as SAMO did not share the formal concerns of graffiti artists, namely, their colorful palette.

Nevertheless, because he is young and because he is black, Basquiat’s paintings and drawings encourage the recognition of graffiti art within the art world. By this time, the Lower East Side arts scene has graduated from exhibitions in clubs to small storefront alternative gallery spaces that exhibit hundreds of young artists from the downtown club scene, artists who were rarely accepted by the larger art community of New York. Among these alternative venues are the Fun Gallery, East Seventh Street Gallery, Kenkeleba House, Gracie Mansion, B-Side, Area-X, and Civilian Warfare.

By the fall of 1982, personal differences have brought Basquiat’s relationship with Annina Nosei almost to an end. He works feverishly in his studio apartment on Crosby Street.

I had some money; I made the best paintings ever. I was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs. I was awful to people.” 31

Pictured Here: ‘Self-Portrait,’ 1982 © Collection of Bo Franzen

Pictured Here:  Leonardo Da Vinci’s Greatest Hits, 1982 © Collection of Jonathan Schorr

In November, Basquiat has a one-artist exhibition at the Fun Gallery, located at 254 East 10th Street and run by Bill Stelling and Patti Astor. Paintings in the show are severely underpriced with no regard for Basquiat’s present market value. This show, held contrary to the advice of Annina Nosei marks the end of Basquiat’s association with his first American dealer. The canvases reveal a terrific rawness in a crowded installation designed by Basquiat. The “messy” character of the installation may have been Basquiat’s response to criticism that, with his rising international fame and “cleaner” shows in the more finished spaces of SoHo galleries, his work had lost some of its originality. The paintings in this show, the fruit of his hermetic season in the Crosby Street loft, prove the critics wrong.

The show included approximately thirty works, among them Cabeza, Charles the First, Jawbone of an Ass, Three Quarters of Olympia Minus the Servant, and Untitled (Sugar Ray Robinson), which were among his favorites and which he kept for his personal collection.

“Gut emotions lie behind the phrases and images, not the desire to make neo-expressionist commodities …. Basquiat makes paintings, but eschews the medium’s traditional rules” (Susan Hapgood). 32

Pictured Here: Untitled (Crown) 1982 © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

 “Jean-Michel Basquiat’s show at the Fun Gallery was his best show yet. He was at home; the hanging was perfect, the paintings more authentic than ever” (Nicolas A. Moufarrege).33

Basquiat poses for the renowned photographer James Van Der Zee, famous for his documentary photos of the Harlem Renaissance and his portraits of the artists, singers, and writers of the period. Basquiat grows to admire the elder Van Der Zee and later paints his portrait. The photo session with Van Der Zee is arranged by Diego Cortez to accompany Henry Geldzahler’s interview with Basquiat for Interview. This photo portrait places Basquiat in a geneaological line with other black artists of the twentieth century.

In December, Basquiat’s paintings are presented in a one-artist exhibition at the Galerie Delta in Rotterdam. In these works, like those in the Fun Gallery show, the crossbars of the stretcher corners are exposed and often hung on the wall by twine. LNAPRK and Kings of Egypt are among the paintings in the show.

With Rammellzee and graffiti artist Toxic, Basquiat returns to California. He spends part of winter 1982-83 in Los Angeles, often staying at the L’Ermitage hotel and dining with friends at Mr. Chow’s in Beverly Hills. He frequently gives paintings to Michael and Tina Chow, in return for food and drink.

Photo Credit: James Van Der Zee. Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982. Estate of James Van Der Zee; courtesy Donna Van Der Zee

Larry Gagosian introduces Basquiat to Fred Hoffman, an art dealer and admirer of Basquiat’s work. Basquiat, with Hoffman’s help, produces five editions of prints, published in 1983 by New City Editions in Venice, California. Printed by Joel Stearns, the editions consist of three Untitled sets along with Back of the Neck and the 8-foot-tall Tuxedo.

Basquiat’s interest in music continues. He produces a rap record with Fred Braithwaite, Toxic, A-One, Al Diaz, and Rammellzee and often dj’s at various Manhattan clubs. Some of his paintings-Charles the First, CPRKR, Discography (One), Discography (Two), Horn Players, and Max Roach-express his strong affinity for the work of the jazz artists Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie Holiday, Charlie “Bird” Parker, and Max Roach. Basquiat’s literary preferences include William Burroughs and Jack Kerouac.

The interest in jazz for Jean-Michel began with his father, then the personality of these characters and how they developed in their worlds, which he saw as similar to his own, particularly Parker and Holiday (Shenge Kapharoah).34

In February, Annina Nosei presents a one-artist exhibition of Basquiat’s work that includes Untitled and the Anatomy print portfolio.

In March, Basquiat returns to Los Angeles for his second show at the Larry Gagosian Gallery. Paintings include Untitled (Sugar Ray Robinson), Jack Johnson, Horn Players, Eyes and Eggs, Hollywood Africans, and All Colored Cast (Parts I and II). They feature texts and images related to famous boxers, musicians, and Hollywood films and the roles played by blacks in them.

Also in March, Basquiat is included in the 1983 Biennial Exhibition” at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. The exhibition includes more than forty artists, many being shown for the first time at the Museum, among them Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer, Barbara Kruger, David Salle, and Cindy Sherman. Basquiat, at age twenty-two is one of the youngest artists ever to be included in a Whitney Biennial. The two works exhibited are Dutch Settlers and Untitled (Skull).

We got tickets for the opening of the New Art show at the Whitney, the Biennial. And the show is just like the sixties …. These kids are selling everything-Jean-Michel Basquiat’s show sold out in Los Angeles” (Andy Warhol). 35

Pictured Here: Hollywood Africans, 1983, © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

In May, Basquiat, Toxic, and Nick Taylor leave New York for a week in Jamaica, where Basquiat often draws in his hotel room and carries notebooks and writing tablets that he fills with cryptic notes and small drawings.

On August 15, Basquiat moves into 57 Great Jones Street, a building he leases from its owner, Andy Warhol. Their relationship flowers, though it prompts much discussion of white patronization of black art. Warhol and Basquiat work out together, paint each other’s portraits, attend art events, and regularly discuss philosophies of life and art, as well as Basquiat’s family experiences. Warhol encourages Basquiat to be more responsible toward his family.

“Wanted Jean-Michel to come over and paint, but he was giving his mother a birthday party so I went to meet him and met his mother. She’s a nice-looking lady …. she was really nice and everything” (Andy Warhol). 36

“One thing that affected Jean-Michel greatly was the Michael Stewart story …. He was completely freaked out. It was like it could have been him. It showed him how vulnerable he was” (Keith Haring). 39

“It could have been me, it could have been me” (Basquiat). 40

In October, Basquiat and Warhol leave New York for Milan. Basquiat spends time in Madrid and Zurich as well as a week in Tokyo with dealer Bruno Bischofberger to attend a November exhibition of his work at the Akira Ikeda Gallery.

Basquiat returns to New York in November. He, Warhol, and Francesco Clemente begin working on collaborative paintings in New York, an endeavor arranged by Bruno Bischofberger. Basquiat and Warhol also execute their own collaborative paintings.

“Jean-Michel came up to the office but he was out of it. Clemente brought up some of the paintings that the three of us are working on together, and Jean-Michel was so out of it he began painting away. Jean-Michel and Clemente paint each other out. There’s about fifteen paintings that we’re working on together” (Andy Warhol). 41

Pictured Here: Dos Cabezas, 1982 © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Basquiat returns to Los Angeles in December, where he stays at L’Ermitage Hotel and spends time with Madonna, an acquaintance from the East Village and the Mudd Club. Through Larry Gagosian and Fred Hoffman, Basquiat rents a studio on Market Street in Venice, California, where he begins a series of paintings on wood panels, assisted by Matt Dike, a friend and Los Angeles dj. These paintings, later shown at the Mary Boone Gallery in New York, include Flexible, Water-Worshipper, and Gold Griot.

By the end of the year, Bischofberger in Switzerland is Basquiat’s only primary dealer. Problems with dealers have become a recurrent feature of Basquiat’s career.

Responding to a question about whether it is harder to get along with girlfriends or dealers, Basquiat replies, “They’re about the same actually.” 42

In January, Basquiat leaves Los Angeles for Maui, Hawaii, a place that he thenceforth frequents. He rents a ranch on a remote part of the island, three hours from the airport in the town of Hana, where he sets up a studio to make drawings and paintings with materials sent from Los Angeles. In February, Paige Powell, his sister Jeanine, Nora Fitzpatrick, and Gerard Basquiat come to visit. Exceedingly generous, he also flew in what his father called “a planeload of freeloaders.43

Basquiat returns to New York in March. Although skeptical about affiliating himself with another dealer he joins the Mary Boone Gallery.

“He was very unsure of this prospect, though he considered it a good career move, he was not interested in the idea of becoming an artist for another dealer” (Paige Powell). 44

Boone and Bischofberger become Basquiat’s primary dealers. Boone is also the dealer for Eric Fischl, David Salle, and Julian Schnabel, while Bischofberger, European dealer for Andy Warhol, also represents the European Neo-Expressionists- Sandro Chia, Francesco Clemente, and Gerhard Richter. Boone and Bischofberger organize joint exhibitions for Basquiat.

Photo Credit: Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1983 © Roland Hagenberg

In May, Basquiat has his first one-artist exhibition at the Mary Boone Gallery. Paintings include Bird as Buddha, Brown Spots, Eye, Untitled (Africa), and Wine of Babylon. The show was met by mixed reviews.

“The early work is of an original primitivism, with a graffiti heritage. The originality has quickly become stylized and somewhat self-conscious in this current show” (Donald Kuspit), 45

“The young artist uses color well …. But more remarkable is the educated quality of his line and the stateliness of his compositions, both of which bespeak a formal training that, in fact, he never had” (Vivien Raynor).” 46

“And throughout floated a disembodied eye, which seemed to allude both to the self-the ‘I’-and to the witness or seer. But one sensed little of what Basquiat is witness to, or of why it bears accounting” (Kate Linker). 47

Also in May, Basquiat is included in An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, which inaugurates the reopening of the museum.

Pictured Here: Tenor, 1985 © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

At Christie’s spring auction of contemporary paintings, a 1982 Basquiat canvas, Untitled (Skull), fetches a record $19,000. The painting had originally been purchased for $4000 the year before. Remarkable for any twenty-three-year old artist, this auction price is all the more noteworthy for an artist of color.

In August, Basquiat’s first museum exhibition opens at the The Fruitmarket Gallery, Edinburgh. Organized by Mark Francis, the exhibition surveys paintings from 1981 to 1984 and travels to the Institute for Contemporary Arts, London, and the Boymans- van Beuningen Museum, Rotterdam.

In September, Basquiat’s collaborative paintings with Warhol and Clemente are shown at the Galerie Bruno Bischofberger in Zurich. The trio had completed about fifteen paintings and this show demonstrates the degree of celebrity status and popularity that Basquiat has attained at such an early age.

Though Basquiat’s acceptance within the smaller art community of people of color has not been very warm, he is included in the exhibition “Since the Harlem Renaissance: 50 Years of Afro- American Art,” organized by the Center Gallery of Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The two works shown, Danny Rosen and Untitled, are installed in the section “Self-Taught to Neo-Expressionism,” along with the work of graffiti artists Blade, Dondi, and Futura 2000, the self-taught artists William Hawkins and Bill Traylor, and the expressionists Robert Colescott and Bob Thompson. Other artists include Romare Bearden, Elizabeth Catlett, Ed Clark, Sam Gilliam, David Hammons, Palmer Hayden, William H. Johnson, Jacob Lawrence, Norman Lewis, Joe Overstreet, Howardena Pindell, Betye Saar, and Alison Saar.

Late in 1984, Basquiat meets Jennifer Goode, sister of the owner of the New York club Area. This relationship is said to be one of the most serious romantic affairs of Basquiat’s life.

Basquiat’s friends become more and more concerned about his excessive drug use. They often find Basquiat in a state of paranoia and uncharacteristically unconcerned with his appearance. Basquiat’s paranoia is also fueled by the very real threat of people stealing work from his apartment.

“Many drawings were destroyed because Jean-Michel knew that people might steal them or art dealers might come and take unfinished work” (Melode Ferguson). 48

“Jean-Michel called at 8:00 in the morning and we philosophized. He got scared reading the Belushi book. I told him that if he wanted to become a legend, too, he should just keep going on like he was. But actually if he’s even on the phone talking to me, he’s okay” (Andy Warhol). 49

Pictured Here: ‘Untitled’ Yellow Tar and Feathers, 1986 © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

In January, Basquiat has a one-artist exhibition at the Galerie Bruno Bischofberger in Zurich. Paintings shown include Max Roach, Tabac, and Zydeco.

On February 10, he appears on the cover of The New York Times magazine, posing barefoot for Cathleen McGuigan‘s extensive article,” New Art, New Money: The Marketing of American Artist.” This portrait, in comparison with the 1982 Van Der Zee photograph, arouses many questions about media hype marketing, and quality in the increasingly image-conscious art world of the 1980s, in which Basquiat proved to be a more than competent provocateur. In Van Der Zee’s frontal photograph, Basquiat comes off looking dignified, yet aggressive. In contrast, Lizzie Himmel’s photograph for The New York Times Magazine poses Basquiat with his bare foot up on a chair, coyly gazing at the viewer, the dreadlocks nicely cropped.

“To be a race-identified race-refugee is to tap-dance on a tightrope, making your precarious existence a question of balance and to whom you concede a mortgage on your mind and body and lien on your soul” (Greg Tate). 50  

Photograph by:  Lizzie Himmel for The New York Times Magazine, 1985

Gerard Basquiat recalls his son and Warhol coming to the house that Sunday with a stack of copies to celebrate the fame and success of the twenty-four-year-old Basquiat.

“The extent of Basquiat’s success would no doubt be impossible for an artist of lesser gifts. Not only does he possess a bold sense of color and composition, but, in his best paintings, unlike many of his contemporaries, he maintains a fine balance between seemingly contradictory forces: control and spontaneity, menace and wit …. Still, the nature and rapidity of his climb is unimaginable in another era” (Cathleen McGuigan). 51

Pictured Here: Gerard and Jean-Michel Basquiat, New York, 1985 © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

In March, Basquiat has his second one-artist show at the Mary Boone Gallery. In the exhibition catalogue, Robert Farris Thompson speaks of Basquiat’s art in terms of an Afro-Atlantic tradition, a context in which this art has never been discussed. Paintings in the show include Gold Griot, Grillo, Flexible, Wicker, His Glue-Sniffing Valet, and BigJoy.

“Because he is black and because he is young some critics will not be able to resist the temptation to link Basquiat to the more obvious forms of New York black and Puerto Rican street art …. In his hands black vision becomes at once private, public, didactic, playful, serious, sardonic, responsible, and, above all, deliberate …. Basquiat’s blues typography, at once interruptive and complete, makes visual black song, with equivalents to pause, shout, spacing, and breath …. Yet even here we must be wary of the claim that Basquiat signals a synthesis of the Afro-Atlantic and European artistic traditions, when his actual biography seems to speak of a graffitist sensibility of the naif that has been sophisticated by a SoHo savvy audacity” ( Robert Farris Thompson). 52

In May, on the recommendation of Henry Geldzahler, Basquiat, along with Francesco Clemente, Keith Haring, and Kenny Scharf, is commissioned to do art installations for a new club, the Palladium, on East 14th Street, opened by impressarios and Studio 54 founders, Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell. Basquiat executes two large mural-sized paintings for the Palladium’s Michael Todd Room.

Basquiat’s deteriorating health becomes more noticeable, particularly the dark spots on his face. These discolorations may have been caused by the removal of his spleen, which kept his body from cleaning out the toxins from the drugs.

“Jean-Michel was really upset about the spots and asked me and lots of other people for advice about dermatologists and treatments. I told him that if his blood was pure they’d go away. He thought it was sadly funny that Andy s oxidation portrait of him had given him spots like those on his face …. You can see lots of self-fulfilling prophesies in his work, or in the work of anybody whose work runs deep” (Glenn O ‘Brien). 53

In September, sixteen collaborative paintings by Basquiat and Warhol are shown at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. At Shafrazi’s suggestion the two artists pose together in boxing trunks and gloves for a poster advertising the show. Unfavorable reviews cause tension in and, ultimately, weaken the Warhol-Basquiat friendship.

Pictured Here: Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982 © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

“Last year, I wrote of Jean-Michel Basquiat that he had a chance of becoming a very good painter providing he didn’t succumb to the forces that would make him an art world mascot. This year, it appears that those forces have prevailed. . . “(Vivien Raynor). 54

“Having resided over our era for considerably more than his requisite fifteen minutes, Andy Warhol keeps his star in ascendency by tacking it to the rising comets of the moment” (Eleanor Heartney). 55

In December, Basquiat spends a week in Tokyo for the opening of his one-artist show at the Akira Ikeda Gallery. That month, Annina Nosei holds an exhibition of Basquiat’s 1982 paintings.

In January, Basquiat travels to Los Angeles for two weeks for his last show at the Larry Gagosian Gallery. Paintings in the show include Peruvian Maid, J’s Milagro, and Link Parabole. The following month he travels to Atlanta, his first and only trip to the South, for an exhibition of his drawings at the Fay Gold Gallery.

“He was very paranoid … being in the South. After much discussion, Jean-Michel did a news interview that he very much did not want to do ” (Fay Gold). 56

In August, Basquiat, accompanied by Jennifer Goode and her brother Eric, travels to Africa for the first time. He is joined there by Bruno Bischofberger, who, at Basquiat’s urging, has arranged for a show in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.

Relations with Mary Boone take a turn for the worse, and by the end of the year Basquiat is again without a primary dealer in New York. Problems between the equally charismatic Basquiat and Boone have been a constant part of their two-year relationship. Bischofberger continues to represent him in Europe, while trying to arrange for another New York dealer.

In November, a large exhibition of more than sixty paintings and drawings opens at the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hannover. Organized by Carl Haenlein, this is Basquiat’s second survey exhibition in a European museum; at twenty-five he is the youngest artist ever given an exhibition there.

Basquiat travels to Hamburg, where he completes his addition to Andre Heller’s traveling amusement park, Luna Luna. Along with Joseph Beuys, Salvador Dali, Sonia Delaunay, Keith Haring, David Hockney, Roy Lichtenstein, and others, Basquiat adorns carousels, funhouses, and various rides with his art.

Late in the year, Jennifer Goode and Basquiat break up. She has often complained to friends about Basquiat’s abuse of heroin, and it precipitates her decision to end their relationship. In addition to malicious gossip about Basquiat’s problems circulating through friends, growing negative criticism of his work from members of the art community does not make the situation better.

Carrying the baggage of black manhood, Basquiat often correctly perceives such criticism as evidence of racism.

“He had to live up to being a young prodigy, which is a kind of false sainthood” ( Keith Haring). 57   “Being black, he was always an outsider. Even after he was flying on the Concorde, he wouldn’t be able to get a cab” (Fred Braithwaite). 58

Image Credit: Photo by © Jean Kallina.

In January, Basquiat has a one-artist exhibition of twelve paintings at the Galerie Daniel Templon in Paris. Some works in the exhibition are Gin Soaked Critic, Gri Gri, Mono , and Sacred Monkey .

On February 22, Andy Warhol dies. Though their friendship had suffered greatly in the last year, Basquiat appears to be devastated by this loss. Basquiat paints Gravestone, a memorial to Andy Warhol.

“It put him into a total crisis …. He couldn’t even talk” (Fred Braithwaite). 59  “The death of Warhol made the death of Basquiat inevitable, somehow Warhol was the one person that always seemed to be able to bring Jean- Michel back from the edge. Always when Jean-Michel was in the most trouble it seemed that Andy Warhol was the person who he would approach …. After Andy was gone there was no one that Jean-Michel was in such awe of that he would respond to” (Donald Rubell). 60

Pictured Here:   Gravestone,  1987  Collection of Enrico Navarra © The Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

In May, three large works on paper are shown at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery. Through Shafrazi, Basquiat meets Vrej Baghoomian, who purchases paintings and begins acting as a dealer for Basquiat’s work.

At Baghoomian’s suggestion, Rick Prol, a painter and old friend of Basquiat’s from the East Village, becomes Basquiat’s studio assistant. Basquiat begins work on paintings intended for shows in New York, Paris, and Dusseldorf the following year.

Basquiat has not had an exhibition of paintings in New York for more than a year and a half, and in January, Basquiat exhibits new paintings for one night at Baghoomian’s gallery at the Cable Building in SoHo. The paintings are those being sent to shows in Paris and Dusseldorf.

Basquiat travels to Paris for his one-artist show at the Galerie Yvon Lambert. Paintings include Light Blue Movers, Riddle Me This Batman, ,,,,,,,,She Installs Confidence and Picks His Brain Like a Salad , and To Be Titled . There he meets Ouattara, a painter from the Ivory Coast residing in Paris. Ouattara invites him to come to his home in Africa after the summer. In the same month, Basquiat travels to his one-artist exhibition at the Galerie Hans Mayer in Dusseldorf.

He returns to New York for a one-artist show at the Vrej Baghoomian Gallery in April. Some critics praise the work, and it seems as if Basquiat has suddenly been redeemed. Paintings include Eroica I, Eroica II, The Dingoes That Park Their Brains with Their Gum, The Mechanics That Always Have a Gear Left Over, and Riding with Death .

“Basquiat’s use of line is the way he commits to record what has been seen. Whatever your point of focus, in any given moment the work is crystal clear …. His line is the product of his mental process, the active proof of the passage from inner thought to articulation” (Demosthenes Davvetas).61

Basquiat has always been resistant to drug abuse treatment programs. In an apparent attempt to kick drugs, Basquiat leaves New York, stopping in Dallas and Los Angeles, on the way to his ranch in Hawaii.

He leaves Hawaii for New York at the end of June, stopping for a week in Los Angeles. Brian Williams, his former assistant in Los Angeles, remarks that Basquiat seems overwhelmingly happy and is proclaiming that he has kicked drugs for good.

On Friday, August 12, Jean-Michel Basquiat dies in his Great Jones Street loft at age twenty-seven. The autopsy report from the office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Manhattan Mortuary, lists cause of death as “acute mixed drug intoxication (opiates- cocaine).”

On August 17, a private funeral is held at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel on Madison Avenue and 81st Street. The funeral is attended by the immediate family and close friends, including Keith Haring, Francesco Clemente, Paige Powell, and others. Jeffrey Deitch delivers the eulogy. Basquiat is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn.

On November 5, about three hundred of Basquiat’s friends and admirers attend a memorial gathering at St. Peter’s Church at Lexington Avenue and 54th Street. Music is played by Gray and others, poetry is recited, including a particulary moving reading by Suzanne Mallouk of A.R. Penck’s “Poem for Basquiat.”

“Jean-Michel lived like a flame. He burned really bright. Then the fire went out. But the embers are still hot” (Fred Braithwaite). 62

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10 Most Famous Jean-Michel Basquiat Paintings

Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist who came to prominence during the Neo-expressionist movement in the 1980s.

Basquiat rose to prominence as part of the graffiti duo SAMO, along with Al Diaz, penning cryptic epigrams on Manhattan’s Lower East Side during the late 1970s, when rap, punk, and street art collided to form early hip-hop music culture.

By the early 1980s, Basquiat’s paintings were being shown in galleries and museums all over the world.

At the age of 21, Basquiat became the youngest artist ever to participate at Documenta in Kassel. He was one of the youngest artists to show in the Whitney Biennial in New York, at the age of 22. In 1992, the Whitney Museum of American Art featured a retrospective of his work.

Also Read: Facts About Jean-Michel Basquiat

Basquiat’s paintings contrasted luxury and poverty, integration and segregation, and inner vs outside experience. He appropriated poetry, drawing, and painting, marrying word and image, abstraction, figuration, historical knowledge, and modern criticism.

Basquiat’s artwork employed social criticism as a tool for reflection and connecting with his experiences in the Black community of his period, as well as assaults on power structures and racist institutions.

His visual poetry was sharply political and straightforward in its condemnation of colonialism and support for class struggle.

Basquiat’s art has continuously gained in value since his death at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose in 1988.

Untitled, a 1982 artwork by Basquiat portraying a black skull with red and yellow rivulets, sold for $110.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction in May 2017, becoming one of the most expensive paintings ever acquired. It also established a new auction record for an American artist.

Jean-Michel Basquiat Famous Paintings

1. untitled (1982).

Untitled is a 1982 artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat. The picture, which shows a skull, is one of the most expensive pieces of art ever acquired. It sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in May 2017, the highest price ever paid at auction for a work by an American artist.

Jean-Michel Basquiat executed Untitled in 1982, which is regarded as his most significant year. The bulk of the most expensive Basquiat paintings sold at auction come from 1982. Untitled is a painting of a skull made out of black brushstrokes with red, yellow, and white rivulets on a blue backdrop. It was initially priced at $4,000 in 1982.

The Annina Nosei Gallery in New York owned it until selling it to Phoebe Chason, who sold it to Alexander F. Milliken in 1982. It hadn’t been seen in public since Jerry and Emily Spiegel bought it at Christie’s in 1984 for $20,900.

The picture was auctioned off at Sotheby’s in May 2017 to Japanese businessman and art collector Yusaku Maezawa for $110.5 million, greatly above the pre-sale estimate of $60 million.

Basquiat, who was 21 years old when he created Untitled, is the youngest artist to have sold a painting for more than $100 million. It is also the first piece created after 1980 to fetch more over $100 million.

It was on display at the Brant Foundation in New York during the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition from March to May 2019.

2. In Italian

Basquiat gained to popularity in the 1980s with his neo-expressionist paintings, but his oeuvre truly started in the mid-1970s with the street art he created on New York City’s Lower East Side.

There he created his improvisational approach, which incorporates symbols and allusions from a variety of sources, including music, religion, and history, as well as cultural and political commentary, to investigate the meaning of being African American in current culture.

His well-known words and symbols, such as “crown of thorns,” “corpus,” and pictures of human anatomy, are found in In Italian and refer to some of the key issues involving the person, religion, and mortality.

Warrior is a 1982 artwork by Basquiat and is described as a “semi-autobiographical piece that champions his artistic vision as a black artist.”

The painting sold for $41.8 million at Christie’s in Hong Kong in March 2021, making it the most expensive Western artwork ever sold at auction in Asia.

Warrior was painted by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982, a watershed moment in his career. He held his first solo show in the United States at the Annina Nosei Gallery in New York, and he was the youngest artist ever to participate in documenta in Kassel.

Basquiat subsequently remarked that in 1982, his most valuable year, he “produced the finest paintings ever.”

Warrior was painted on a wooden panel at Basquiat’s basement studio at the Annina Nosei Gallery. On a yellow and blue patched background, the picture portrays a powerful gladiator holding a sword, signifying the eponymous fighter.

Warrior initially debuted in a solo show at Tokyo’s Akira Ikeda Gallery in 1983. It was shown in exhibits in Paris, Vienna, and Milan throughout the next several decades.

Sotheby’s sold it for $1.8 million in 2005 and $5.6 million in 2007. Aby Rosen, a German-American real estate entrepreneur and art collector, paid $8.7 million for the artwork at Sotheby’s in 2012.

Warrior sold for $41.7 million in March 2021 in a live-streamed Christie’s auction in Hong Kong, setting a new auction record for the highest price paid for a Western artwork in Asia.

4. Dustheads

Dustheads was created in 1982. It sold for $48.8 million at Christie’s in May 2013, setting a record for a Basquiat artwork sold at auction at the time.

Dustheads features two drug junkies on angel dust as frantic glowing figures set against a dark background.

In May 2013, billionaire Jho Low paid $48.8 million for it at Christie’s, setting the record for the most expensive Basquiat artwork sold at auction at the time.

Low sold Dustheads at a loss for $35 million in 2016, amid a government probe into assets allegedly purchased with cash stolen from the 1Malaysia Development Berhad development fund.

5. In This Case

In This Case is a 1983 artwork by Jean-Michel Basquiat. The picture, which shows a skull, is one of the most expensive pieces of art ever acquired. It sold for $93.1 million at Christie’s New York in May 2021, the artist’s second best auction record.

Jean-Michel Basquiat had already achieved worldwide renown for his neo-expressionist paintings by the time he completed In This Case in 1983, at the age of 22. The six-by-six-foot canvas piece has a “huge skull head placed against a ruby-red backdrop, with a burning eye, projecting green fangs, and fragmented anatomy.”

Between 1981 and 1983, In This Case was the last in a series of enormous skull paintings . The first, Untitled (Skull) (1981), was purchased by Eli and Edythe Broad a year after it was completed and is currently on display at The Broad Museum in Los Angeles.

The second, Untitled (1982), was sold at Sotheby’s in 2017 for $110.5 million, the highest price paid for an American artist at auction.

A Basquiat retrospective showcasing the trinity of skull paintings appeared at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris in 2018. The savagery they bring to their upending of the vanitas makes these works among his most startling.

La Hara is a 1981 Basquiat painting that shows a skeleton police officer which sold for $35 million at Christie’s in May 2017.

Jean-Michel Basquiat painted La Hara in 1981, a watershed point in his career from a street artist to an art world superstar. He started working in the basement of Annina Nosei’s SoHo gallery, where La Hara was executed. This period’s paintings by Basquiat are regarded his most valued.

La Hara is one of Basquiat’s rare paintings depicting white males. A terrifying white skeleton figure wearing a peaked hat is seen against a crimson backdrop in the artwork. Throughout the artwork, Basquiat uses vibrant colors and designs.

During the 1940s and 1950s, it was a frequent surname among New York police officers. The painting’s bottom is gray with steel prison cell bars.

The picture originally appeared at auction in 1989, when it sold for $341,000 at Sotheby’s. It was then sold privately to Steve Cohen, an American businessman and art collector.

In May 2017, the artwork sold for $35 million at Christie’s post-war and contemporary art auction, above the pre-sale estimate of $28 million.

7. Untitled (Boxer)

Untitled (Boxer) is a monumentally sized artwork by Basquiat depicting a boxer, a champion of epic proportions, and a figurative self-portrait of Basquiat as a rebellious warrior.

The piece was painted in 1982, the year Basquiat reached the pinnacle of his strength as a young painter at the age of twenty-two, and it portrays the artist at his most ambitious.

Looking back on that year, Basquiat boasted, much like a prizefighter, “I painted the finest paintings ever.”

8. Hollywood Africans

Basquiat made the picture Hollywood Africans in 1983. Basquiat’s artwork is a reaction against the representation of African Americans in the entertainment industry.

A self-portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat and his buddies painters Toxic and Rammellzee is set on a beautiful yellow background in the midst of Hollywood Africans. Basquiat’s birthday is shown by the figures 12, 22, and 60 in the top right corner.

Basquiat crossed out various words and phrases, as he often did in his works. He said that this was done to draw attention to them, saying, “I cross out words so you notice them more; the fact that they are hidden makes you want to read them.”

Hollywood Africans is part of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collection in New York. It was on display at the Barbican Centre in London in 2017 as part of Basquiat: Boom for Real.

The artwork will be on display at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 2020 as part of the exhibition Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation.

9. Charles the First

Charles the First is a 1982 picture that was inspired by jazz musician Charlie Parker and used as the inspiration for rapper Jay-2010 Z’s song “Most Kingz.”

Charles the First was executed in 1982, which was a watershed moment in Basquiat’s skyrocketing career. The picture is a tribute to jazz musician Charlie Parker, sometimes known as “Bird,” who was a pivotal influence in the creation of bebop.

Basquiat told The New York Times Magazine in 1985: “I’ve dreamed of being a celebrity since I was seventeen. I’d think about all my idols, like Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix… I had a romantic notion of how these folks got to be renowned.”

Similarly like Parker, Basquiat suffered with heroin addiction and died at the age of 27 like Hendrix.

10. Irony of Black Policeman

Irony of a Black Policeman is a 1981 artwork by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. It shows a black person as a police officer, but Basquiat felt the concept of the “Black Policeman” to be particularly humorous.

Jean-Michel Basquiat had made the leap from street artist to gallery artist by 1981. Basquiat joined the Anina Nosei Gallery in New York, and Nosei gave him studio space in the gallery’s basement, where he produced some of his most notable pieces, including Irony of a Black Policeman. In 2012, the artwork sold for $12.6 million at a Phillips Contemporary Art auction.

The figure in the artwork portrays the dictatorial black mass: a black guy clothed in a midnight blue police outfit. The cap that frames the policeman’s head resembles a cage, and it depicts what Basquiat feels are the confined independent perspectives of African-Americans at the period, as well as the policeman’s own perceptions inside white culture.

One of the most essential subjects in Basquiat’s work was race. He frequently centered his artwork on the black figure because, as he observed, “Black people are never really shown truthfully in…I mean, not even in contemporary art sufficiently.”

However, Basquiat suggests irony in that the oppressed is donning the oppressor’s uniform.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat Art Lesson

School Art Teacher Accused Of Secretly Selling Kids' Assignments

Breaking News Reporter, HuffPost

A schoolteacher in Canada is facing legal action after being accused of instructing his young students to create artwork in the style of Jean-Michel Basquiat and then selling copies of their creations without their knowledge or consent.

Art instructor Mario Perron of Westwood High School, Junior, in Saint-Lazare, Quebec, was served a legal notice Tuesday, along with his school board, on behalf of two parents following the alleged discovery last week that an online store featured the children’s assignments under his name.

Joel DeBellefeuille, one of the two parents taking legal action, said he’s shocked and sickened by the discovery.

“I’m still very much baffled and in disbelief that this guy thought it was OK to have his own little sweatshop of 12- and 13-year-old children and just benefit off of them financially by stealing their homework,” DeBellefeuille told HuffPost on Wednesday.

Perron did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s requests for comment Wednesday.

Darren Becker, a spokesperson for the Lester B. Pearson School Board in the Montreal area, confirmed receiving the legal notice in a statement to HuffPost and said that the board is “taking these allegations very seriously.”

“An investigation is underway so the school board cannot comment on this matter any further,” the statement said.

The artwork was the alleged result of Perron instructing his students to make an original “creepy portrait” of themselves or a classmate in the late Basquiat’s style, according to a copy of the Jan. 19 homework instructions shared with HuffPost.

“I do think that it is bothering him in the sense that trust was broken between student and teacher.” - Joel DeBellefeuille

The instructions explicitly warned not to directly copy one of Basquiat’s images “because it is considered plagiarism.” Those five words were underlined for apparent emphasis.

DeBellefeuille said his son, Jax, was absent due to illness but that his classmate created a portrait of him for the assignment. This portrait was then discovered online on Thursday when Perron’s students did a Google search on Perron’s professional achievements and found his online store, according to a copy of the legal notice against Perron and the school board.

“I do think that it is bothering him in the sense that trust was broken between student and teacher,” DeBellefeuille said of his son.

Perron’s alleged page on FineartAmerica.com , which was no longer operating on Wednesday, listed thousands of items featuring the artwork of 96 students, said DeBellefeuille. These items, including mugs, tote bags, towels and jigsaw puzzles, had price tags of up to $120, according to the legal notice.

DeBellefeuille said the items initially had Perron’s full name listed as the artist under each item but that over the weekend, shortly after the allegations against Perron were made public by local news outlets, the name changed to just Perron’s initials.

“So he took his time to remove his name, but he left all the artwork and merchandise still up there, which is beyond me that he thought that that was OK. This shows clear intent on his side to continue doing what he did,” he said.

The legal notice demands $350,000 to cover moral and punitive damages as well as copyright infringement penalties under Canadian law. It also demands a formal apology, the art’s removal from the teacher’s website, and the temporary or permanent suspension of the teacher.

The school board and Perron were given until Monday to respond.

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