Biography of Jean-michel Basquiat – a Neo-expressionist Painter and Graffiti Prodigy

Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American Neo-Expressionist painter of Puerto Rican and Haitian decent. Neo-expressionism is a style of postmodern sculptures and paintings that was extremely popular in the 1970’s. Basquiat was born December 22, 1960, and raised in Brooklyn, New York. Except for a brief 2-year stay in San Juan, Puerto Rico where he studied at Saint John’s School in Condado.

A self-taught artist, Basquiat started in his artistic pursuits at a young by drawing on any spar paper left around his house or brought home by his parents. As he began to explore art and become more creative, his mother pushed him to pursue his talents. Basquiat’s mother was said to be very artistic herself and openly expressed her love for the arts. In 1968 Basquiat was hit by car while playing in the street, while recovering form his injuries his mother gave him a book called Gray’s Anatomy. Basquiat used this book to pass the continuous hours of doing nothing while he sat home wait for his leg to heal. The book would ended to be very influential to Basquiat’s artistic outlook. That same year Basquiat’s mother and father separated, leaving him to live with his mother. At the age of 17 Basquiat dropped out of Edward R. Murrow High School, but later attended City-As-School; which was an alternative high school in Manhattan. Basquiat chose this school because of its large population of other artistically gifted and interested students who struggled the same way he did in traditional school. After dropping out of traditional high school Basquiat’s father shunned him, which forced him to live with friends. While on his own Basquiat obtained money by selling homemade post cards and T-shirts.

At the beginning of Basquiat’s career he was part of SAMO. SAMO was a graffiti duo that created thought provoking artwork all across the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Manhattan’s Multicultural population heavily influenced their work. During this time punk, hip-hop, and street art culture were rapidly spreading across the nation. These forums were often used as tools of rebellion against the older generation. Al Diaz was Basquiat’s partner in crime. Before the duo had met Diaz was already part of New York’s fast paced graffiti scene. The pair originally met in high school, where they started an independent newspaper called the Basement Blues Press. This was where the initial thought SAMO was born, through a piece that Basquiat worked on in 1977, which about an ideal but imaginary religion they called SAMO. SAMO then turned into a platform for the duo to express their frustrations; rather they were about society and social norms or just personal grudges. The duo also used their skill to spread witty jokes across the city with their graffiti.

By 1978, SAMO© had begun to be known across New York City, due to the fact that it was painted across walls all over the city. Basquiat claimed he could do up to 30 sprays on a busy day. With their growing popularity Keith Haring took notice to SAMO and began to follow their work. In 1979 Haring finally met Basquiat and the two became close friends. Basquiat was to say there was "no ambition" in his work at all; it is intriguing to see the places the SAMO graffiti were targeted. After struggling alone on the streets as a teenager trying to support himself, Basquiat had become a well-liked and fairly popular graffiti artist by 1980. That year, Basquiat took part in his first group exhibition, “The Times Square Show. ” Which was heavily influenced by the likes Pablo Picasso, Leonardo da Vinci and Robert Rauschenberg. Basquiat’s work featured a inspirational mash up of symbols, graphics, phrases and more. Basquait’s work constantly expressed his views on racism and racial discrimination. Which was a issue he personally experienced everyday even as a famous artist; this brought out a special fire in Basquiat that caused him to make truly thought provoking pieces.

In 1981 Basquiat met Andy Warhol, an American artist, director and leading figure in pop art, in a restaurant. Which left Basquiat star stuck in front of his long time idol, but he made the most out of his opportunity. Basquiat showed Warhol multiple pieces of his work, and Warhol was flabbergasted by Basquiat's genius. This encounter led to a long time friendship between the two influential artists. In May of 1981 Basquiat went to Modena, Italy, to work on his first solo show. Then in March of 1982 he returned for his second solo show. He also spent that following summer living with Larry Gagosian and his then girlfriend, pop star Madonna. In 1983 Basquiat made a rap single, which featured hip-hop icons K-Rob and Rammellzee. The singles cover featured Basquiat’s artwork, making it highly desirable. Not only for the rare musical status but to also own a piece of Basquiat’s work; this piece now sells for more than $6, 000. Basquait and Warhol worked on a series of paintings between 1983 and 1985 at the suggestion of Basquiat’s Swiss art dealer, Bruno Bischofberger. Warhol said Basquait’s energy and youth inspired him. Ironically Basquait had always idolized Warhol. Basquait’s contributions can be seen in his trademark graffiti style; in contrast Warhol contributed with his straightforward method of hand painting bold brand names bringing back his pop painting of the 60’s. Their two vastly different styles seemed to blend perfectly, as a result together the duo of talented artist made multiple masterpieces. Which included an impressive piece that was over 35 feet long. In the early parts of 1985 Basquiat’s friends and colleagues began to worry about his drug use and mental state. Friends stated that Basquiat started to become oddly unconcerned with is physical appearance, and he was said to becoming increasingly paranoid. This was due to the fact that Basquiat was becoming increasingly addicted to cocaine and heroin.

In 1987 Basquiat’s long time friend, Andy Warhol, passed away after suffering a cardiac arrhythmia in his sleep. This loss made Basquiat’s death almost inevitable; friend said that Warhol’s death left Basquiat speechless.