How does an artist go from living on the street, to selling paintings for
$25,000 at 20 years old,
calling Madonna his girlfriend,
teaming up with the legendary Andy Warhol,
tragically dying at only 27 in 1988, and yet
sold a painting in 2017 at a price so high it set a new record at auction
for an American artist?
Only one person I know, and that would be the legendary
Jean-Michel Basquiat.
(music playing)
Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1960.
As you might have imagined by his unique name,
Basquiat was the definition of multicultural.
His father was from Haiti and mother of Puerto Rican descent,
which meant by age 11 Basquiat was fluent in French, Spanish, and English.
Basquiat seemed to be a quick learner, and by age four he was able to read and write.
He often created cartoon inspired drawings with the encouragement of his
mom who had an interest in art.
At age seven in 1968,
he was hit by a car while playing in the street.
Not exactly the best place to play.
This left Basquiat spending a lot of time at home recuperating in bed.
His mom bought him Grey's Anatomy drawing book to work from,
which definitely influenced his future work.
That same year his parents separated, which meant his dad raised he
and his sisters, which included a move to Puerto Rico for two years in 1974.
After moving back to New York when Basquiat was 15, the pressure and stress of moving
again mixed with his mom, who is now in a mental institution, finally got to him,
and he ran away from home.
He spent a week sleeping on benches in Tompkins Square Park,
and after being arrested, was returned to his dad.
Not long after at age 17, he dropped out of high school, and his dad kicked him out of the house.
He moved to an alternative high school
and supported himself by selling t-shirts and homemade postcards.
By 1976 Basquiat and his friend, Al Diaz, began spray-painting graffiti on buildings in
lower Manhattan working under the name Samo.
Samo simply shortened for same old, was a creative way of calling out the
predominantly white corporate and art world Basquiat wanted to break into .
Basquiat had found a job at the Unique Clothing
Warehouse in the art department during the day,
and at night continued to paint original graffiti.
In 1980 he met Andy Warhol, and presented samples of his work.
Warhol was stunned by his "mystique and allure."
They end up collaborating on the film called Downtown 81, which included
music from Basquiat, who was also a musician.
Basquiat's breakthrough happened this same year in June where he participated in
the Times Square Show, a multi-artist exhibition where he was noticed by
various critics and curators.
One was Emilio Mazzoli, an Italian gallery
owner who liked Basquiat so much, he invited him to have his first solo show
in Modena Italy, which included many painted pieces on found objects like doors.
By 1983 he was now painting in a studio in Venice California, having
gallery events, and showing up to those events with his girlfriend ,who you might
have heard, of Madonna.
A friend of Basquiat said he would introduce her by saying,
"This is my girlfriend. Her name is Madonna. She's going to be huge."
Yeah, that was a pretty accurate statement.
At this time heads and skulls
appeared in a lot of his works.
Spurred by the Neo-Expressionist art boom,
Basquiat's work was in great demand.
Neo-Expressionism referred to a new, rough
style of creating and expressing yourself.
It gave a nod to artists like Jackson Pollock,
but Basquiat's work included recognizable
subjects, mixed with abstract ideas.
By February 10th 1985, Basquiat appeared on
the cover of the New York Times Magazine.
This was unprecedented for any young
African-american artist, and definitely put Basquiat and his work in the spotlight.
Despite the success he had so quickly,
his emotional instability continued to be a problem, and he began to use heroin.
With great fame comes great pressure.
In 1988 fellow friend and artist, Keith Haring,
ran into him, and Basquiat told him he had kicked the drug problem.
However, despite these attempts, Basquiat died on August 12,1988 of a heroin overdose
in his studio over on Great Jones Street.
He was only 27 years old.
In his short career Basquiat created about 1,500 drawings, and 600 paintings and
many sculptures and mixed media pieces too.
Of course, the art critics quickly followed relentlessly labeling Basquiat as a
"talentless hustler," and as a "street-smart, but otherwise invincibly ignorant."
But, when you are disrupting the status quo, and blazing a new path the critics
always seem to follow.
Critics aside, let's look at just a few people who
thought it was important enough to own a Basquiat.
You have David Bowie, Stephen Cohen,
Madonna, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay Z, and Johnny Depp just to name a few.
And get this, Sotheby's in 2017 sold this Basquiat 1982 masterpiece for
$110 million dollars, smashing a new auction record
for a U.S. artist all to cheers and applause.
Yeah, that's a crazy amount of money.
For most artists it takes almost the
length of two lifetimes before seeing success.
But for Basquiat it came within 10 years, which is crazy!
I love what Keith Haring said at Basquiat memorial,
"He truly created a lifetime of works in 10 years. Greedily, we wonder what else he
might have created, what masterpieces we have been cheated out of by his death.
But, the fact is that he created enough work to intrigue generations to come.
Only now will people begin to understand the magnitude of his contribution."
And I couldn't agree more. Basquiat was definitely one of a kind.
Hey, you made it this far, why not show some love and like this video!
Of course, subscribing would be an epic way to support this living artist,
and it won't cost you a hundred million either!
Stay salty my creative friends, and
be Artrageous.