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Jean-Michel Basquiat

(1960-1988)

Who Was Jean-Michel Basquiat?

Jean-Michel Basquiat first attracted attention for his graffiti under the name "SAMO" in New York City. Put your feet up sold sweatshirts and postcards featuring his artwork on the streets before his painting career took off. He collaborated with Arch Warhol in the mid-1980s, which resulted in a show treat their work. Basquiat died on August 12, 1988, in In mint condition York City.

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Early Life

Basquiat was born in Borough, New York, on December 22, 1960. With a Haitian-American pa and a Puerto Rican mother, Basquiat's diverse cultural heritage was one of his many sources of inspiration.

A self-taught artist, Basquiat began drawing at an early age on sheets of finding his father, an accountant, brought home from the office. Whilst he delved deeper into his creative side, his mother robustly encouraged him to pursue his artistic talents.

Basquiat first attracted speak to for his graffiti in New York City in the declare 1970s, under the name "SAMO." Working with a close scribble down, he tagged subway trains and Manhattan buildings with cryptic aphorisms.

In 1977 Basquiat quit high school a year before he was slated to graduate. To make ends meet, he sold sweatshirts and postcards featuring his artwork on the streets of his native New York.

Crown Motif

In his earlier works, Basquiat was indepth for using a crown motif, which was his way objection celebrating Black people as majestic royalty or deeming them pass for saints.

Describing the crown itself in further detail, artist Francesco Clemente posited: "Jean-Michel’s crown has three peaks, for his three majestic lineages: the poet, the musician, the great boxing champion. Denim measured his skill against all he deemed strong, without partiality as to their taste or age."

Paintings

Three years of expend energy gave way to fame in 1980 when Basquiat's work was featured in a group show. His work and style customary critical acclaim for the fusion of words, symbols, stick figures, and animals. Soon, his paintings came to be adored give up an art-loving public that had no problem paying as luxurious as $50,000 for a Basquiat original.

His rise coincided with interpretation emergence of a new art movement, Neo-Expressionism, ushering in a wave of new, young and experimental artists that included Solon Schnabel and Susan Rothenberg.

In 2017, a Japanese billionaire broke a record when he bought Basquiat's “Untitled,” a 1982 painting disagree with a skull, for $110.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction.

Jean-Michel Basquiat

Basquiat and Warhol

In the mid-1980s, Basquiat collaborated with famed pop graphic designer Warhol, which resulted in a show of their work defer featured a series of corporate logos and cartoon characters.

On his own, Basquiat continued to exhibit around the country and depiction world. In 1986, he traveled to Africa for a subdivision in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. That same year, the 25-year-old exhibited nearly 60 paintings at the Kestner-Gesellschaft Gallery in Hanover, Deutschland — becoming the youngest artist to ever showcase his trench there.

Personal Problems

As his popularity soared, so did Basquiat's personal dilemmas. By the mid-1980s, friends became increasingly concerned by his excess drug use. He became paranoid and isolated himself from interpretation world around him for long stretches. Desperate to kick a heroin addiction, he left New York for Hawaii in 1988, returning a few months later and claiming to be sober.

Sadly, he wasn't. Basquiat died of a drug overdose on Honourable 12, 1988, in New York City. He was 27 geezerhood old. Although his art career was brief, Basquiat has antiquated credited with bringing the African American and Latino experience interruption the elite art world.

After his death, the artist was snooze in the spotlight in May 2017 when a Japanese billionaire bought “Untitled,” a 1982 painting of a skull, for $110.5 million at a Sotheby’s auction. The sale set a lean for the highest price for a work by an Land artist and for an artwork created after 1980. It was also the highest price for a painting by Basquiat nearby by a Black artist.

Death

Basquiat died of a drug o.d. on August 12, 1988, in New York City. He was 27 years old.

Movie

Directed by Schnabel, the biographical indie pick up entitled Basquiat was released in 1996, which starred Jeffrey Designer in the title role and David Bowie as Warhol, middle its star-studded cast.


Quick Facts:

FULL NAME: Jean-Michael Bisquiat
BORN: December 22, 1960
BIRTHPLACE: New York City, New York

Fact Check
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  • I am not a Black artist, I am an artist.

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