Jean-Michel BasquiatThe Force of the Streets

Claudia Duica

• American artist in the late 1970s and 1980s

• Important icon for the Neo-Expressionist painting

• Noticed by the art world also due to his unusual style and admirable attitude

• An astonishing solitaire in the history of painting

• Born on December 22nd 1960• Spoke English, French,

Spanish fluently• Gray’s Anatomy was a major

theme in his art projects• Started his career as a graffiti

artist at 16

Childhood and Youth

SAMO

• Pseudonym with which Jean-Michel Basquiat signed his graffiti

• Attacked the speciousness of materialist society

• Jean-Michel Basquiat ended the SAMO project in 1982 after his first large group exhibition

Stardom• Took the art world by

surprise in the “Times Square Show”

• Was propelled in the forefront of the Neo-Expressionist movement

• Intense subjectivity and aggressively raw handling of materials

• Formed an unusual bond with Andy Warhol which lead to collaborations

“Believe it or not, I can

actually draw.”Jean-Michel Basquiat

Skull(among Basquiat’s best-known works, due to its obvious

aura of terror)

The person“I don’t listen to what

art critics say. I don’t know why anybody needs a critic to find out what art is.”

• Unconventional• Bold, daring• Unable to balance fame

and fortune with his personal demons

• Permanently homeless and penniless

• Believed that “Most young kings get their head cut off”

• Confident

The 1980’s Explosive Art Scene• Buying art became chic

and an object of investment

• The market was controlled by the media-starved art dealer, who determined the direction of contemporary art

• The defining works of a career ended up in the private living rooms of collectors, who demanded prices no museums could bear

The Final Years• In 1984 Basquiat rents a

ranch in Maui• February 1987 Andy

Warhol dies, Basquiat’s grief being inconsolable

• Surrenders any remaining control over his life and career in 1988

• Six days before leaving for Africa, on August 22nd 1988 Jean-Michel is found dead in his studio

Eroica I, a chaotic work with the words “Man Dies” in the background

It has been said of Basquiat that he “embodies the myth of a modern Icarus who rose too quickly and

burnt himself in the heat of the sun”

Riding with Death