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😉 Wondering if graffiti is art or vandalism? Read our article about why graffiti is art and let’s see if you agree with us! 

Life on the street

At the age of 18, Basquiat dropped out of school a year before graduating to live for two years on the streets, either in abandoned buildings or in southern Manhattan. During that time he survived by selling T-shirts and postcards that he painted himself. Undoubtedly, those who bought him now can make a great profit if they decide to sell them!

Basquiat and music

At the age of 19, Basquiat wrote on the walls of SoHo: SAMO is dead. That was how he abandoned graffiti to create a musical group (Gray) where he played the synthesizer and clarinet. They toured several trendy pubs where artists gathered but he also abandoned his musical career. It was in this context that artists created hip hop and shared his taste for break dancing and rap.

His love for music leads him to produce rap music and perform as a DJ in Manhattan clubs. His favorite artists begin to appear in his works, such as Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday or Dizzy Gillespie.

Influences in his painting

The influences on Basquiat’s work were many. The artist was very attracted to popular culture and abstract expressionism. He was influenced by Franz Kline, the early works of Jackson Pollock, the figures of De Kooning, the calligraphy of Cy Twombly, Robert Rauschenberg, the Art Brut of Jean Dubuffet.

Basquiat Exhibitions

Basquiat’s first exhibition was at the age of 20 at the Times Square Show where a number of graffiti artists exhibited. Graffiti was no longer something marginal to the street. A year later (1981), the artist exhibited at the Institute of Art and Urban Resources in New York, in a show entitled New York/New Wave. Here he met Andy Warhol and began a long professional collaboration!

In 1982, his exhibitions multiplied and he began to make a successful name for himself. A year later he participated in the Whitney Museum Biennial in New York alongside emerging artists of the appropriationist style and new expressionists.

In 1985, he appeared in the Sunday magazine The New York Times, becoming the first African-American visual artist to appear on the cover with the headline: “New art, new money: The marketing of American artists”.

His death

Jean-Michel Basquiat dies at the age of 27 from a heroin overdose. His figure goes down in history as the most successful African-American visual artist in the history of art.

In his short artistic career he exhibited in 40 solo shows and more than 100 group exhibitions.  The neo-expressionism with which he played wasn’t understood at times by critics who saw this art as something vulgar and meaningless. But the support of collectors and galleries has made his work to be transcended over time.