Biography of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Radiant visions

22 December 1960 12 August 1988 Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 22, 1960, by Gerard, Haitian, and Maud, of Puerto Rican descent. From an early age Basquiat shows interest in art, impelled by his mother who accompanies him on tour to museums in New York. In 1968 the parents divorce. In 1976 he enrolled in the "City as A School", experimental Institute for talented kids but found difficulty in traditional schools. In 17 years together with his friend Al Diaz try LSD for the first time, and begins to fill the streets of Manhattan by graffiti, signed SAMO, acronym for Same Ol' Shit (same old shit). His graffiti often contains seemingly nonsensical phrases or revolutionary as SAMO © SAVES IDIOTS (SAMO © saves idiots). In 1978 the free weekly Village Voice devotes an article to works of Samos. That same year, Basquiat left school and home, supporting himself by selling t-shirts and postcards on the street. For a long time sleeping in a cardboard box in a park in New York. The same year he meets Andy Warhol at a restaurant in Soho, which sells a postcard for a dollar, but without arousing too much interest in the famous artist. Within a short time, gets quite successful cultural environments of the East Village, thanks to repeated appearances in the program "TV Party" by Glenn O'Brien. During the recordings meet Michael Holman with whom he founded the band Gray, whose name is inspired by the famous scientific illustrations book Gray's Anatomy, released in the uk in 1860. Two years later he joins the band even Vincent Gallo, musician and successful actor. Basquiat also appears in the documentary film Downtown 81, also by Glen O'Brien, due out in cinemas only in 2001. Basquiat's career began to take off, as a musician and especially as an artist. In 1980 participates in the exhibition "The Times Square Show, organized by COLAB (Collaborative Projects Incorporated, a collective of young painters New Yorkers). In 1981 he participates in the retrospective New York/New Wave, along with other artists such as Robert Mapplethorpe and Keith Haring. In the same year, Rene Ricard, poet and critic, publishes out of Artforum magazine an article about him, entitled "The Radiant Child" (literally, the son beaming). Basquiat exhibited their works in the most important galleries, coming into contact with famous artists who burst onto the scene in New York in those years, as Francesco Clemente, David Salle and Julian Schnabel. In the fall of 1982 has an affair with a young Italian-American singer, at that time still unknown named Madonna. During the same period enters the Factory of Andy Warhol. Knowledge of Warhol affects deeply on the works of Basquiat; the two indeed embark on a fruitful collaboration, so that put together an exhibition whose poster portrays them as protagonists of a boxing match. Meanwhile the young painter of Haitian origin begins to exhibit, as well as in New York, in all capitals, like Galerie Bischofberger in Zurich, the Delta of Rotterdam, the Kestner Gesellschaft in Hanover, or Akira Ikeda of Tokyo. On February 10, 1985 the New York Times Magazine devotes its cover, with the headline: "New Art, New Money: The Making of an American Artist" (new art, new money, the birth of an American artist), consecrating him as a rising star of American painting. The work of Basquiat reflect primarily the condition of the African American community. Simple figures, children playing in the background of the North American metropolis, where words often cancelled, burst onto the canvas as an integral part, is conceptual. The same Basquiat says: "I deleted words, so that you can note-the fact that they are dark urges to want to read even more." Basquiat's talent could be summed up in the words of Henry Geldzahle, curator of the Metropolitan Museum of Art: "his work was born as cryptic and conceptual design, symbols and words, with the incisive simplicity of late Roman inscriptions". Basquiat is an obscure character, unable to balance artistic success with his own inner demons. Since his youth he had ever used drugs, but, writes biographer Phoebe Hoban, after Warhol's death in 1987, becoming increasingly depressed and paranoid. So much so that the August 12, 1988, only 27 years old, died in his New York loft for a mix of cocaine and heroin (in slang, speedball). In one of the last notes before death leaves a reflection just on success: "since I was 17 years old, I always thought I'd become a star. Should I be thinking about my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix ... I had a romantic idea of how people become famous". In 1996 he released film "Basquiat", directed by Julian Schnabel, played by Jeffrey Wright, and David Bowie as Andy Warhol (also starring Benicio Del Toro, Dennis Hopper, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Willem Dafoe and Courtney Love). On May 14, 2002 auction house Christie's won for $ 5,509,500 the painting "Profit I", work of Basquiat Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich previously belonged to. It is the highest price for one of his works, but on 15 May 2007, the New York auction house Sotheby's has sold an untitled work of Basquiat to 14.6 million. The November 12, 2008, Lars Ulrich sold "Untitled (Boxer)" for 12 million dollars.
Article contributed by the team of collaborators.