Jean Michel Basquiat Research Paper

Jean Michel Basquiat Jean Michel Basquiat was in many ways an art hero. Risen from a seemingly grim and dark beginning, tagging a form of street poetry under the pseudonym SAMO meaning same old shit, he came out of the shadows of the underground punk scene in New York City. A Neo-Expressionist by nature Basquiat painted with a rough and aggressive style that in my opinion embodies the definition of Neo-expressionism; when looking through Jean Michel Basquiat’s works there is a strong sense of primitivism, borrowing from an almost ancient tribal style. Basquiat seemed to have taken bits and pieces of styles from his favorite artists throughout history. Many artists Influenced Jean Michel Basquiat, from Cy Twombly to Pablo Picasso. The artist that had the most influence not just on Jean Michel’s art but his life was Andy Warhol. As a high-powered art figure Andy Warhol played a key role in Jean Michel Basquiat’s success; from the time that they met to the grand finale of their collaboration Andy was there to

In the beginning I didn’t feel as though Basquiat was a product of being African American as much as the history books would lead us to believe. After looking much of his work, you can see and feel pain. One piece that changed my mind was his painting “Defacement” In the documentary “Radiant Child.” I’m still uncertain about the role racism played in his life; If it had impact on everything he did. To me it seems that his experiences as a young African American in the late 70’s and 80’s that racism gave fuel to the fire that turned out some of the most impactful art I’ve ever seen. I didn’t really think much of his work when I first saw it. In fact, before learning about Jean Michel in depth I really didn’t like anything about his art despite being strangely drawn to it in a “how did this guy get famous from this” kind of way. Knowing his story and seeing his interviews has given me a different