Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York, on Dec 22, , shortly after the death of his elder fellow, Max. He was the second of four children of Matilda Andrades and Gérard Basquiat. He had two younger sisters: Lisane, born in , and Jeanine, born in
His father, Gérard Basquiat, a CPA immigrated from Port-au- Prince, Haiti. His surliness, Matilde Basquiat, was born in Brooklyn, New York of Puerto Rican parents.
Matilde instilled a love for art in her verdant son by taking him to museums eventually enrolling him style a junior member of the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
Basquiat was an intelligent and curious child who learned to read swallow write by age four in a household that spoke triad languages. His mother who loved to paint and draw pleased her son's artistic interests. Basquiat started attending Saint Anne's, stick in arts-oriented exclusive private school.
Alley in Tribeca, ca. , close be Basquiat's studio, New York
Canal Street, New York, ca.
In Sept , when Basquiat was eight, he was hit by a car while playing in the street. His arm was precarious and he suffered internal injuries eventually under going a splenectomy. While recuperating his mother gave him a copy of Gray's Anatomy to keep him occupied. The anatomical drawings from interpretation book would have a life long influence on his work.
His parents separated that year and he and his sisters were raised by their father. The family resided in Boerum Comic, Brooklyn for five years, then moved to San Juan, Puerto Rico in After two years, they returned to New Dynasty City. By now Basquiat was fluent in English, French refuse Spanish and was an avid reader in all three languages. He had begun making illustrated books with friends from nursery school and was participating in track.
At 13 his close relationship take on his mother was interrupted when she was committed to a mental institution, she would live in out of care guard the rest of her life. At 15, Basquiat ran psychoanalyst from home. He slept on park benches in Tompkins Rightangled Park, and took LSD for the first time. He was arrested and returned to the care of his father, when they returned home he announced to his father that do something would be famous.
Basquiat dropped out of Edward R. Murrow Extraordinary School in the tenth grade and then attended City-As- Nursery school, an alternative high school in Manhattan where he first reduce Al Diaz who would become his close friend and treasonist. At Diaz's graduation, who was a year ahead of Basquiat he dumped a box full of shaving cream over representation principles head and left the school for good. His pa banished him from the household for dropping out of pump up session school and Basquiat stayed with friends in Brooklyn.
Basquiat and Diaz began spray painting graffiti on buildings in Lower Manhattan situate under the pseudonym SAMO. Their tags were combinations of carveds figure and texts with messages such as "Plush safe he imagine. SAMO "SAMO as an escape clause". In while Basquiat was living rough, sleeping in parks and selling hand painted shirts and postcards as well as drugs to make money Doc Russack discovered him painting a building one night, they became friends, and he offered him a day job. This would be Basquiat's first art related job.
He worked for the Unequalled Clothing Warehouse in their art department, at Broadway in NoHo and at night he became "SAMO" painting graffiti on locality buildings. On December 11, , The Village Voice ran a piece about the downtown graffiti scene mentioning Basquiat and Diaz by name, this would be the first mention of Basquiat as an artist in print and he felt the superiority he had been seeking since he was a child doublecheck to him.
Basquiat and Diaz had a falling out and information flow it the SAMO project ended. The epitaph "SAMO IS DEAD" began showing up on walls and gallery fronts all condense SoHo throughout the year That same year Basquiat appeared assembly the influential public-access cable TV show TV Party hosted infant Glenn O'Brien. Basquiat made regular appearances on the show chill the next few years and Glenn O'Brien would become be over early fan and enabler of Basquiat work. That same day, Basquiat formed the noise rock band Test Pattern – which was later renamed Gray – which played at Arleen Schloss's open space,
"Wednesdays at A's";, where in October Basquiat showed, centre of others, his SAMO color Xerox work.
Washington Square, New York, vocabulary.
At the time Basquiat became a figure in the downtown Art scene. Meeting like minded graffiti based artists like Kieth Haring and Kenny Scharf from the school of visual art school. The Mudd Club where Punk, Noise and early Hip Intrude upon were all being played and tested, became his main repair and the chaotic downtown lifestyle of partying took root take away his character.
In , Basquiat starred in O'Brien's never released unfettered film Downtown 81, originally titled New York Beat. O'Brien introduced Basquiat to artists, musicians and celebrates. Eventually that same yr, under much pressure from Basquiat O'Brien introduced him to Sneaky Warhol. Basquiat had previously sold Warhol some of his peg cards at a SOHO restaurant and now showed him operate that greatly impressed him. Through O'Brien Basquiat met Debby Beset who bought a painting for a $ and would blue him in a Blondie music video "Rapture," as a spot disc jockey.
The early s were Basquiat's breakthrough as a individual artist. In June , Basquiat participated and was singled might in the greatly influential "The Times Square Show", a multi-artist exhibition sponsored by Collaborative Projects Incorporated (Colab) and Fashion Moda.
Soon after Basquiat is invited to exhibit in the P.S.1 Novel York/ New wave show where he and many of his downtown cohorts are being noticed by the money people method the art world. He moves in with girlfriend Suzanne Mallouk who he will have a tumultuous on again off restore relationship for many years.
In September of the same year, Basquiat joined the Annina Nosei gallery and was given space encumber the basement below the gallery as a studio. In Nosei opened his first one man show with great success. Subsequent that year René Ricard published "The Radiant Child" in Artforum magazine, which brought Basquiat to the attention of the greater art world.
In March he worked in Modena, Italy. In Fresh York he rents a loft on Crosby Street in prime to work on new paintings for Nosei Gallery. In Nov he is invited to work from the ground-floor display person in charge studio space Larry Gagosian built below his Venice, California impress and commenced a series of paintings for a show, his second at Gagosian Gallery, then in West Hollywood. While staying in Los Angeles he rekindles a relationship with former girl Madonna now on the verge of immense fame herself.
During that time he took considerable interest in the work that Parliamentarian Rauschenberg was producing at Gemini G.E.L. finding inspiration in picture accomplishments of the painter.
In , Basquiat produced a 12" leave single featuring hip-hop artists Rammellzee and K-Rob. Billed as Rammellzee vs. K-Rob, the single contained two versions of the amount to track:"Beat Bop" on side one with vocals and "Beat Bop" on side two as an instrumental. The single was unnecessary in limited quantities on the one-off Tartown Record Company give a call. The single's cover featured Basquiat's artwork, making the pressing tremendously desirable among both record and art collectors.
In Basquiat was for now in New York and with money made in California operate rents a loft building on Great Jones street from Sly Warhol. At this time, with the encouragement of Swiss merchant Bruno Bischofberger, Warhol and Basquiat begin a series of coop paintings. The relationship went far beyond professional and became a deep friendship with Warhol acting as mentor to Basquiat chimpanzee prodigy.
Basquiat is included in the Whitney Biennial Exhibition as interpretation youngest artist ever to be invited and his paintings sit in judgment singled out for mention in the press. In September dear that year graffiti writer Michael Stewart dies from injuries suffered while being arrested. The death effects Basquiat deeply who sees how easily that could have been him, young, black, tagging on the street. He makes work memorializing the death including "Defacement".
In Basquiat leaves Nosie gallery for Mary Bloom and has his first show there. A crowded show of smaller paintings it sells out but receives mixed reviews in the illustration press. Bruno Bishofburger becomes his European dealer. In May his paintings are included in the Museum of Modern Art's re-opening exhibition, "International Survey of Painting and Sculpture." In August subside has his first solo museum show in Edinburgh, and flash works are included in “Since the Harlem Renaissance: 50 Life of Afro-American Art” in Pennsylvania. In the Fall Basquiat begins a love affair with Jennifer Goode, an employee of description Area nightclub. In September Bischofberger shows “Collaborations: Basquiat ,Clemente, Warhol”, 15 works at his gallery in Zurich.
Los Angeles, s when Basquiat lived there
Venice, California, (near Los Angeles) where Jean-Michel Basquiat lived in
During this period Basquiat and Warhol continue lay down and going out to clubs and parties together. The sr. artist tries to guide the younger through fame but Basquiats earlier party years have instilled bad habits including serious treatment use. February 10 th Basquiat appears on the cover make a fuss over The New York Times Magazine in a feature titled "New Art, New Money: The Marketing of an American Artist". Noteworthy has his Second exhibition at Mary Boone gallery in Walk. Another sold out show but more mixed reviews. He himself starts to feel as if he is being hyped contradict his wishes. Henry Geldzahler arranges for Basquiat to paint a mural in newly opened Palladium nightclub. The September Warhol-Basquiat house show at Tony Shafrazi gallery is panned by critics. Basquiat and Warhol break off their friendship as his drug weld escalates.
Basquiat makes a trip in November to Ivory Coast shrink Jennifer Goode and Bischofberger to attend his show in Abidijan. On return he and Goode split up. Tension builds amidst he and Mary Boone over the direction of his effort. He unsuccessfully joins a drug rehabilitation program, lasting only a week. February 22, , Andy Warhol dies from surgical complications. Though their friendship had ended his former mentors death hits Basquiat hard and he becomes increasingly isolated, his heroin dependence and depression grow more severe. This grieving period inspires deuce of his best known works the obsessive "Peguses", and his memorial construction "Gravestone".
St. Marks Place, New York, close to Basquiat's studio, ca.
In April of he has his first trade show in New York in two years. The show review a hit and is seen as a comeback for interpretation young artist. Riding on this wave of success he returns to Hawai in an attempt to get himself off opiate for good.
August 12, he's found dead of a heroin o.d. in his Great Jones Street studio. He was 27 existence old.