Jean-Michel Basquiat
Many of Basquiat’s works have been likened to the improvisational and expansive compositions of jazz. Often themes accumulate through multiple references on the surface, emerging as patterns out of gestural brushstrokes, symbols, inventories, lists, and diagrams.
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT WAS AN INFLUENTIAL AFRICAN-AMERICAN ARTIST WHO ROSE TO SUCCESS DURING THE 1980S. BASQUIAT’S PAINTINGS ARE LARGELY RESPONSIBLE FOR ELEVATING GRAFFITI ARTISTS INTO THE REALM OF THE NEW YORK GALLERY SCENE. THE GESTURAL MARKS AND EXPRESSIVE NATURE OF HIS WORK NOT ONLY ALIGNED HIM WITH THE STREET ART OF KEITH HARING AND KENNY SCHARF, BUT ALSO THE NEO-EXPRESSIONISTS JULIAN SCHNABEL AND DAVID SALLE. BASQUIAT EXPRESSED SEEMINGLY BOUNDLESS CREATIVE ENERGY, PRODUCING APPROXIMATELY A THOUSAND PAINTINGS AND TWO THOUSAND DRAWINGS. ACROSS HIS OEUVRE, BASQUIAT DREW ON HIS OWN CARIBBEAN HERITAGE; A CONVERGENCE OF AFRICAN AMERICAN, AFRICAN, AND AZTEC CULTURAL HISTORIES; CLASSICAL THEMES; AND POP CULTURAL FIGURES INCLUDING ATHLETES AND MUSICIANS. THE IMMEDIACY AND INTELLECTUAL DEPTH OF HIS PAINTINGS WON HIM WIDESPREAD ACCLAIM BOTH BEFORE AND AFTER HIS UNTIMELY DEATH AT THE AGE OF 27.
