What is Art?

How would YOU describe it?

Give it a shot…
 Art has many definitions…

No definition is
completely correct.

I Would Question, “Was There Intention

Behind This?”
Jean-Michel Basquiat
1960-1988

• American Artist, from Brooklyn New York

• Father from Haiti and mother Puerto Rican
descent, mother instilled love of art in her son,
took him to museums, had recognizable art talent
by age four. Could fluently speak, read, and write
French, Spanish, and English.

• When he was 8, he was hit by a car while playing

in the street. Suffered broken arm and many
internal injuries. While recovering, his mother
gave “Gray’s Anatomy” to keep him occupied.
This would later influence his art.

• Soon after his parents divorced. Mother was put

in and out of several mental institutions. Basquiat
and his two younger sisters had to live with their
father. Basquiat ran away from home when he
was 15, lived in Thompson Square Park.

• Dropped out of high school in tenth grade, and

lived on friend’s couches, selling t-shirts and
homemade post cards to make money.
• In 1976, Basquiat and friend from school, Al Diaz, began spraying graffiti on to buildings
in Lower Manhattan, under the pseudonym “SAMO”, (Pronounced SAME-OH) which
stands for “Same Old Shit”

• Take turns coming up with sayings, made critical comments towards the art scene in
SoHo and college students comfortably studying in art schools:

SAMO THE SO-CALLED AVANT-GARDE

SAMO as an alternative 2 playing art with the radical chic

sect on Daddy’s$ funds

“ ”
’

“ ”
 $uccess
• Early 1980s his breakthrough years. Participated in The Times Square Art Show, and Rene Ricard
published an article on Basquiat called, “The Radiant Child” in Artforum magazine which brought
Basquiat to the attention of the art world.

• By the age of 23 he was a world famous artist, dating Madonna, being Andy Warhol’s best friend and
collaborator.

• On the cover of New York Times Magazine, showed in galleries of all over the world. Highest
selling painting 16.3 million In 2012, for the second year running, Basquiat was the most coveted
contemporary (i.e. born after 1945) artist at auction,
“It was like some crazy-art world marriage
and they were the odd couple. The
relationship was symbiotic. Jean-Michel
thought he needed Andy’s fame, and
Andy thought he needed Jean-Michel’s
new blood. Jean-Michel gave Andy a
rebellious image again.”
 Death
• He was a successful artist in this period, but his growing heroin addiction began to interfere with his
personal relationships.When Andy Warhol died on February 22, 1987, Basquiat became increasingly
isolated, and his heroin addiction and depression grew more severe

• He died of an drug overdose at 27, leaving behind him a body of work of more that
1,000 paintings and 1,000 drawings that are now part of the most important art
collections all over the world.

• Even if the paintings look childish at first glance, they are profoundly significant of the culture at that
time, with themes like racism, consumption, cultural icons and art historical references. He
claimed that every line means something.
 Style
• Neo-expressionist
• Primitivism
• Childlike Art, Naïve Art, Outsider Art

Abstraction

Distorted forms, simplified, drawn almost inside out= meaning

Messy, often cluttered, confusing compositions

Harsh, edgy, expressive line= evoke energy and emotion= expression

Used words and text, repeated words, crossing words or letters out for emphasis

OTHER INFLUENCES=
Music (Ravel, Bebop, Charlie Parker), “Gray’s Anatomy” Book
Materials
Painted with acrylic paint and oil paintsticks on any material he could find (in
addition to canvas) including found objects such as…
- tires - fences
- window sills - doors
- metal sheets - tables
- football helmets - refrigerators
- girlfriend’s dress
 Themes
The same work of art can fit into many of these different themes. There is no single,
fixed interpretation of any of his paintings or drawings.