Jean-Michel Basquiat, rose from graffiti artist to become a global art icon and one of most influential figures in contemporary art in the 1980’s. His work explored the tensions between rich and poor, black and white, inner and outer experiences and reflects a constant battle between how he wanted to present himself and how he was pigeon-holed by others.

Jean Michel Basquiat’s Early Life

Jean-Michel Basquiat was born on the 22 December 1960 in in Brooklyn, New York USA. His father, Gérard Basquiat was from Haiti and was a successful accountant. His mother Matilde Andrades was a fashion designer and artist who originally hailed from Puerto Rica. An elder brother Max died before he was born, but he had two younger sisters, Lisane and Jeanine. Basquiat was a precocious child who by the age of 4 could read and write. Inspired by television cartoons he quickly developed an affinity for drawing, getting through vast quantities of paper his father brought home from the office. His mother, Matilde enthusiastically encouraged his drawing and was also a very strong advocate of his education.

Basquiat’s Education

In 1965 Basquiat started kindergarten at a Head Start Project school. Despite being only 5 years old his mother would frequently take him to visit the Brooklyn Museum, The Museum of Modern Art, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
In 1967, he moved to Saint Ann’s School, a private school founded a couple of years earlier in the basement of the St. Ann’s Episcopal Church in Brooklyn.

By 1968 Basquiat’s drawing sources expanded to Alfred Hitchcock films, cars, comic books, and particularly the Alfred E. Newman character from the Mad comics.

Car Accident

But in May of that year whilst playing in the street Basquiat was hit by a car. He was seriously injured and spent a month in hospital with internal injuries resulting in his spleen being removed. During his hospitalisation his mother introduced him to the work Leonardo da Vinci, who Basquiat thought was wonderful. But it was a book his mother gave him that had the most profound impact on him. It was a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, not usually top of the preferred reading list for a 7-year-old. She wanted him to understand how his own body was constructed and how it related to his injuries. His mother couldn’t have known the impact this book would have on his later work. It even provided the name for the band he would co-found in 1979.

More Schools

In 1969 his parents Gerard and Matilde separated, and Basquiat and his sisters moved to East Flatbush, in Brooklyn to live with their father. Two years later in 1971 the family moved again, this time to Boerum Hill in Brooklyn where Basquiat enrolled at Public School 181. The first of many public schools he would attend. Later in 1974 Gerard Basquiat was promoted and relocated with his three children to Mira Mar, near San Juan, Puerto Rico, where Basquiat attended an Episcopalian school.

The following year Basquiat ran away from home, hiding for a few hours in a local radio station. He was found by staff, who contacted his father who collected him. He was not best pleased and was later quoted as saying, ‘Jean-Michel did not like obedience. He gave me a lot of trouble.’

Basquiat building Friendships

In November 1976 Gerard Basquiat and the family relocated back to New York, where Basquiat was placed at the City as School, a progressive school in Manhattan. The City-as-School was specifically designed for gifted and talented children who found the traditional educational system difficult. It was here that Basquiat met Al Diaz, a graffiti artist from the Jacob Riis Project, a housing complex in the East Village of New York. The two of them soon become close friends and early artistic collaborators.

Later in December 1976, Basquiat ran away again from home, this time for about two weeks. Apparently, hanging out in Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, a place he and his friend Al Diaz often frequented. According to a later interview, he said he spent most of his time dropping acid, LSD, and getting bored. After days searching his father eventually found him and took him home . According to his father he declared “Papa, I will be very, very famous one day.”

SAMO

During 1977 Basquiat created a fictional character who made his living selling a fake religion. He named SAMO him, shorthand for ‘Same Old Shit’. Basquiat and Diaz, both very creative students with a talent for getting into trouble began collaborating on the SAMO project as “a way of letting off steam.” As a result, SAMO graffiti soon appeared throughout Manhattan and particularly in the SoHo district. Basquiat’s SAMO tags, characterized by enigmatic and philosophical messages. They were often accompanied by drawings or visual symbols that made satirical statements about society, politics, and contemporary culture. The images were charged with intense emotional energy and demonstrated his rage against racial injustice and his desire to give a voice to minorities.

Basquiat’s tags soon attracted attention from the media and public and responses varied. But it was clear SAMO was laying the foundations of what would soon become Basquiat’s meteoric rise to art world stardom.

Later in June of 1977 at Diaz’s graduation from the City-as-School, Basquiat accepted a dare. Whilst the principal was speaking to the assembled students Basquiat ran to the podium with a cardboard box full of shaving cream and dumped it on the principal’s head. As a result, Basquiat, a year away from graduating, decided there wasn’t much point in going back to school, so he dropped out.

The Influence of Stardom

In 1978 he co-founded a rock band with American filmmaker Michael Holman and called it Gray. Around this time his interest in stardom and “burning out” developed. It would become an increasingly important element in his life and strongly affect his later work. This fascination was partly influenced by his great admiration for musicians, singers, and boxers particularly Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin. Both of whom had died in 1970 at the aged of 27 from drug overdoses. They together with Charlie Parker, Billie Holiday, Sugar Ray Robinson, and Joe Louis would all appear in later paintings.

During this time, he became a regular at some of the “new” downtown hot spots such as the Mudd Club where he mingled with film makers, musicians, and other artists.

The Move from Graffiti to Art

To raise funds Basquiat began to create and sell hand-painted postcards and T-shirts. On one occasion in the WPA restaurant in SoHo he saw Andy Warhol and managed to sell him a postcard. This marked the beginning of his move away from graffiti and towards painting. However, the street elements of his graffiti would still be an essential element in his art and would prove pivotal in the creation of his unique artistic identity.

In 1979 Basquiat, through Fred Braithwaite, better known as Fab 5 Freddy, the film maker and hip-hop pioneer, he met Glenn O’Brien. He was the producer of O’Brien’s TV Party on New York cable television on which Basquiat would frequently appear.

Meanwhile at the Mudd Club, Basquiat was introduced to Diego Cortez, an artist and filmmaker who took a liking to Basquiat’s work. He showed Basquiat’s work to art dealers and to Henry Geldzahler, once described as ‘the most powerful and controversial art curator alive’. He subsequently befriended Basquiat and became an early collector of his work. Basquiat’s work was developing, his paintings became more refined incorporating more complex elements and mixed media as the move away from graffiti continued.

Artistic Breakthrough

1980 was Basquiat’s breakthrough year when in June he took part in the Times Square Show in New York. The exhibition showcased work from emerging artists and Basquiat’s contribution was a large SAMO installation on a single wall. The show was seen as an early recognition of the artists from the East Village club scene. But interestingly, in a review of the show Basquiat was one of only a very few artists discussed. He saw this as a recognition of his artistic talents and as a consequence announced he would quit his band, Gray. They played together for the last time at the Mudd Club on the 3 August 1980.

In February 1981, the New York/New Wave exhibition was organized by Diego Cortez at the P.S.1 Art Center. The exhibition showcased almost the entire range of artistic counterculture of the time. Basquiat was invited to exhibit along with internationally renowned artists such as Keith Haring and Robert Mapplethorpe. And despite the competition Basquiat was acclaimed the most interesting artist in the exhibition. His work captured the attention of prominent gallery owners such as Annina Nosei and Emilio Mazzoli. And it was Mazzoli who gave Basquiat his first solo exhibition at his Gallery in Modena, Italy in May 1981.

Meteoric Rise to Stardom

In New York, gallery owner Annina Nosei befriended Basquiat and showed keen interest in his work. Soon realising he didn’t have a studio she offered him a space to work in the basement of her gallery in SoHo. As a result, Nosei became Basquiat’s primary dealer.

Later in October 1981, Basquiat exhibited works in the Public Address exhibition at the Nosei gallery, which also showcased politically charged works by Haring, Holzer, and others.

In the December 1981 a remarkable article by René Ricard titled “The Radiant Child” appeared in Artforum. To quote a small element it said, “If Cy Twombly and Jean Dubuffet had a child and gave it up for adoption, it would be Jean-Michel. The elegance of Twombly is there just as the rawness of the young Dubuffet.”

In March 1982: Basquiat had his first solo show in New York at the Annina Nosei Gallery. The exhibition was a huge success and Basquiat’s fame skyrocketed. His artwork gained international recognition being shown at the Kunsthalle in Bern Switzerland amongst other galleries and lauded for its raw energy and social commentary.

Basquiat meets Warhol

During this year Basquiat visited The Factory, the studio workshop established by Andy Warhol and met the artist. This encounter marked a decisive turning point, signifying the beginning of an artistic collaboration and a profound friendship between the two artists. The relationship was widely publicised and would have a significant influence on the evolution of Basquiat’s work.

During 1983 Basquiat had several major exhibitions in Europe and the United States. This bolstered his status as a leading artist in the Neo-expressionist movement. In March he was included in the 1983 Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. The exhibition included more than forty artists such as Keith Haring, Jenny Holzer and Cindy Sherman. At the age twenty-two Basquiat was one of the youngest to ever be included in a Whitney Biennial.

On 15 August, Basquiat moved into 57 Great Jones Street, an apartment he leased from Andy Warhol. Whilst their relationship flowered it did spark much debate about white patronage of black art. However, that didn’t seem to affect their relationship which continued to blossom. They attended art events together, painted together and spent time discussing the philosophies of life and art and it was Warhol who tried to encourage Basquiat to re-establish his family ties.

First Solo Exhibition

In May 1984 Basquiat had his first solo exhibition at the Mary Boone Gallery, but it was met by mixed reviews. Nevertheless, he was now moving in the art world’s elite circles. At Christie’s Spring auction that year, his 1982 painting Untitled (Skull), fetched a record $19,000 having been sold the previous year for $4000. This was remarkable for a 23 year old artist especially one of colour. But despite his success he felt under pressure from the commercialisation of his art and the art world’s expectations.

Towards the end of 1984 he met Jennifer Goode the sister of the owner of the New York club Area. The relationship developed into one of his most serious romantic affairs. But Basquiat was having mental problems. He developed an obsession, almost paranoia, about people stealing work from his apartment. But it was his uncharacteristically dishevelled appearance and excessive drug use that caused friends most concern.

Basquiat’s Health Deteriorates

Despite his personal problems his relationship with Warhol continued. They collaborated on a series of paintings in which Basquiat explored themes of race, identity, and social issues. The renowned American photographer, Michael Halsband, took the iconic photographs of them together dressed as boxers, one of which was used as the main image to promote the Warhol, Basquiat exhibition at the Tony Shafrazi Gallery in September of that year. But the 16 collaborative works didn’t attract favourable views which caused tension between them.

By the year’s end Basquiat’s health was deteriorating. Dark spots had begun to appear on his face perhaps because his body was struggling to clean toxins as a result of having his spleen removed as a child.

During 1986 Basquiat’s personal struggles intensified. His drug use increased and his relationships, particularly with the art establishment, deteriorated. Relations with Mary Boone his dealer became increasingly fraught to such an extent that by the end of the year she was no longer his art dealer.

However, in November, he had his second one-man show in Europe when a large exhibition of more than sixty paintings and drawings opened at the Kestner-Gesellschaft in Hannover, Germany. At twenty-five he was the youngest artist ever given an exhibition there.

At the beginning of 1987 Basquiat’s relationship with Warhol had deteriorated, yet he appeared devastated when Warhol died on the 22 February that year. Despite his life and artwork becoming increasingly chaotic he did paint ‘Gravestone’ as a memorial to Warhol.

Basquiat’s Final Months

In April 1988 Basquiat had a one-man show at the Vrej Baghoomian Gallery in New York. It got mixed reviews, but some critics did praise his work. Buoyed by this, in May, Basquiat who had always resisted drug abuse treatment programs, apparently decided to try to deal with his drug abuse. He left New York and travelled to his ranch in Hawaii. He returned to New York at the end of June after spending a week in Los Angeles where his former assistant Brian Williams said, ‘he seems overwhelmingly happy and proclaiming he has kicked drugs for good.’

But the following month on the 12 August 1988 like his teenage idols Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, he joined the 27 Club. Jean Michel Basquiat died in his apartment in New York of what the coroner described as an acute mixed drug intoxication.

Basquiat’s Legacy

In many ways his demise highlighted the mental health issues and pressures associated with meteoric success especially for someone so young and without much family support. He was a prodigious and visionary talent whose work, often provocative, explored profound themes such as race, celebrity, and social injustice in a raw and powerful way not seen before.

But as with most modern artists there are opposing views of Jean Michel Basquiat. Many critics view him as one of the most important artists of the late 20th century whose influence extends beyond the visual arts to fashion, music, and pop culture.

Others see Basquiat’s rapid rise to fame and equally swift and tragic death by drug overdose as epitomizing the overtly commercial, and hyped-up international art scene of the mid-1980s.

Yet despite his struggle with fame and drugs his work did challenge society norms and questioned the boundaries of art to such an extent that he remains an iconic figure in contemporary art.