He is one of the most sought-after artists in history and has become a cult symbol in the art world. Despite all the research about him, the myth of Jean-Michel Basquiat is so passionate that it is always a good time to return and do a brief review of his life and work.
Myth and artist
Basquiat’s works spoke, or instead shouted, in a continuous protest against racism and capitalism. It took him just seven years to complete an art collection that has broken auction records. The black skull oil painting, known as the Untitled Head (since it was not even titled), fetched $ 110.5 million at Sotheby’s and was sold in just ten minutes. It is the most expensive painting by a black artist. In Basquiat, we see three key factors that make an artist’s work to take off. A difficult life, a very limited collection, and, of course, unbridled talent.
That difficult life ended at the age of 27. Basquiat was found dead from an overdose after abusing heroin. Shortly after his death, his paintings multiplied their value in the market. Even so, he was lucky to know success in life, and not only with oil. He was a graffiti artist, DJ, comic book artist (he sold a full exposure at age 21!), Starring in Edo Bertoglio’s movie Downtown 91, and a member of his own marching band called Gray. He also shared space with Fab Five Freddy, appeared in Blondie’s video clip Rapture or on the television program TV Party; among other flings between the mainstream and the underground.
Basquiat was a mixture of slum and glamor that captured the eyes and spotlights of an entire era. He was more than a painter and more than a cultural myth: he was an artist. But the brush was the instrument with which he created his own language. A mixture of aesthetic collage, tribal art, references such as Pollock or Picasso, and acid criticism of the hypocrisy of society.
Eccentric and controversial
He was a couple with Madonna and rubbed shoulders with David Bowie, but his main link was with Andy Warhol. Friend and disciple of the master of pop art, both maintained an intense relationship that went beyond the artistic projects they developed together. At that time, Basquiat stopped signing with his first pseudonym ‘SAMO’ (an acronym for Same Old Shit); still, his paintings were already receiving the attention of the entire art scene anyways. Jean-Michel Basquiat was part of that last generation of New York artists who shaped a whole movement. And it had been running for years. Member of an imaginary where abstract expressionism, music clubs, and African-American hip hop, among other languages and settings, served as a reference for new and disruptive art.
Get an in-depth look at the legend of Basquiat with the books Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks, a study of the artist’s rarely seen notebooks, and Desperately Seeking Basquiat, a journey through the iconic places that marked his life. Now available at Foot District!