The Impact of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an artist who died young but his art continues to have a huge impact in the world today. He died of a heroin overdose when he was only 27 years old. From an early age, his parents and teachers noted that he was quite talented in art and encouraged him to pursue it then and even in the future. When his parents separated, his father took custody of him and his siblings. However He ran away from home at the age of 15. He lived on the streets where he slept on park benches where he was picked by the cops and taken home. Later, he dropped out of school causing his father to throw him out of home. He went to live in Brooklyn with his friends where he sold T-shirts and sold post cards that he had made himself in order to support himself financially.
At the age of 17, he paired up with a friend, Al Diaz and they started spray-painting graffiti on the slum buildings located in the lower Manhattan areas. They would sign off the paintings with the word SAMO which stood for “same old shit”. An article was published in the Village Voice in 1978 about the writings and the paintings. The two completed the paintings with words SAMO is dead which was painted on the walls of the SoHo buildings.
In the year 1979, he got involved in a TV show with Glenn O’Brien called the TV party. He made appearances in the show for several years and O’Brien introduced him to Andy Warhol, a pop artist, who Basquiat collaborated with on several paintings (Muñoz, 1999). In 1980, he participated in The Times Square Show where he displayed his art pieces. He was recognised for his art on a higher platform when the article Radiant Child was published in the Artforum magazine (Saggese, 2011).
In 1981, he was now displaying his works in the Annina Nosei Gallery alongside other famous artists such as Schnabel, Salle and Clemente. His work was also displayed to the Los Angeles residents in the Larry Gorgonian gallery. He majored in graffiti art where he would use a mixture of items in his paintings such as religious symbols, advertising slogans and political quotes or phrases. He had an energy and passion when it came to defacing and even reframing symbols and phrases in wild colours. He was not afraid to experiment with different mediums to have diverse visual representations. Though he had been an artist for a short time because he died young, his influence has not been minimal at all in the artistic world due to his original and unique artistic expressions. At his age, he had achieved more than any Black artist had and to this day he remains the most famous Black artist (Johnston, 2008, p.55).
contained the use of automobiles, police and the children’s walks showing the influences that came from the time that he lived on the streets. From 1982 to 1985, his paintings his paintings had features such as multi-panel art, individual canvas and the art surface would be filled with writing, colours and images.
When his friend, Andy passed away, it is reported that the artist was severely affected, withdrawing and isolating himself till he was found dead through a heroin overdose. During several interviews, he revealed that his art was influenced by different things. He also loved the Black influential people in the jazz and sports world such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis and Sugar Ray Robinson.
Basquit has been celebrated as an artist who added the Black or Hispanic experience to the art of his day which was deemed to be a White man’s art. His art spoke volumes with his search for identity as a Black man in a world where White art was celebrated (Johnston, 2008). His art covers themes such as wealth and poverty, integration vis-à-vis segregation and the experiences of youth in the society.
His two major works, called the Untitled (History of the Black people) and the Irony of the Negro policeman addressed issues of the Black man’s heritage and racism. In Untitled, he illustrated he explores Egypt as a Black nation the relationship the country had with the slave trade in the United States. In the Irony of the Negro policeman, he
highlighted that the Black policemen are not sympathetic to their own people but rather they are still being controlled by the Caucasian people.
His work was first displayed in a huge platform after his death in the Whitney Museum of American art in the period 1992 to 1993. The work was later taken to other museums in Texas, Lowa and Alabama in 1993 and 1994. In the year, 2005, his work was displayed in the Brooklyn Museum and the display extended to Los Angeles and Houston in 2005 and 2006. In 1991, a collection of poems was released by Kevin Young that covered his life and the themes addressed in his paintings. There was also a poem released on the artistic group, Basquiat was initially involved with known as SAMO. M.K Ahsante Junior released the poem in 2005. Later, in 2009, a documentary labelled Jean-Michel Basquiat: The radiant child was part of the 2010 Sundance Film Festival. The documentary was also shown in 2011, in the PBS series, Independent Lens.
His paintings have been sold at high prices, as high as $14 Million dollars. His work continues to influence artists. It showed the rise of a graffiti artist who had a social-cultural message from a street artist to an internationally acclaimed artist. His rise to fame as an artist is similar to the rise of American hip hop genre of music in the 1980s.
His art shows the significance of punk art and neo-expressionism in the artistic world. His art to the eyes is quite figurative and may look unsophisticated but it has the ability to speak to the hip hop world and the upper classes in society (Rodrigues, 2011). He had deep messages on racism and identity which he communicated to the world around him.
His life also serves as a warning to artist of the dangers of artistic and social excess behaviours. It shows the effect of getting fame and money at a young age and within a short period. If wealth is not managed well it can have a disastrous effect. It warns the young artists not to engage in drug abuse.
Johnston, F. (2008). Performing Blackness at the Heart of Whiteness: The Life and Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Ohio: Bowling Green State University.
Muñoz, J. (1999). Disidentifications: queers of colour and the performance of politics.
United States: University of Minnesota Press.
Rodrigues, L. (2011). ‘‘SAMO© as an Escape Clause’’: Jean-Michel Basquiat’s
Engagement with a Commodified American Africanism. Journal of American Studies, 45: 227-243.
Saggese, J. (2011). "Cut and Mix": Jean-Michel Basquiat in Retrospect. Nka: Journal of
Contemporary African Art, 28(1): 88-95.
