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Basquiat Bio :: Brief + collected from
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Basquiat Biography ::
Jean-Michel Basquiat was born on December
22, 1960 in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn to Gerard and Matilde.
Gerard Basquiat was born in Haiti. He came from a well-to-to family and
went on to be a relatively successful accountant in New York.
Jean-Michel was far more close to his mother, Matilde. Matilde spoke
Caribbean Spanish to young Jean and he learned the language early on. She
took Jean to see museums and the paintings in them. In 1966, at the ripe
old age of six, Jean-Michel already carried a card identifying him as a
"junior member" of the Brooklyn Museum. In 1968, while playing softball on
East 35th street in Brooklyn, a passing automobile hit Basquiat. He breaks
his arm and surgeons had to remove his spleen. While he was recovering in
the hospital, his mother brought him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy to read. We
can see from his later paintings just how much this text was instantly
Rolodexed into his memory. Jean-Michel’s noise band will later be called
Gray, surely after the anatomy book of the same name. Matilde was also
encouraging Jean to continue with his artistic interests, humbly aware
that Michelangelo and all great painters studied anatomy. When asked if he
thought Gray’s text helped heal, immersing his consciousness in drawings
and names of the working parts of the body Basquiat answered, "Sounds
true."
In 1974 Gerard Basquiat, now separated from Matilde, moved with his
children to Mira Mar, Puerto Rico. They lived there until 1976. This year
and a half immersion, when Jean-Michel was in his early teens reinforced
his Spanish. He later vacationed again to the island in 1987.
Jean-Michel dropped out of school in 1977. He lived in abandoned buildings
and supported himself with odd jobs until 1978. This is about the time
when he fell into an early graffiti movement with his friend Al Diaz.
Together, Al and Jean-Michel begin collaborating on SAMO, a character that
makes a living selling fake religion. The two begin spray painting phrases
and cryptic texts around Lower Manhattan such as "SAMO IS AN END TO
MINDWASH", "SAMO SAVES IDIOTS", and "PLUSH SAFE HE THINK." The icon of
traditional graffiti holds fast to Basquiat’s answer to an interviewer’s
question: "What is your subject matter?" to which he replied. "Royalty,
heroism, and the streets."
In 1978, Basquiat begins to sell hand painted postcards and t-shirts to
make money. He approaches Andy Warhol and Henry Geldzahler or Bruno
Bischofberger, I’m not sure which, in a Soho restaurant. He sells some of
the art to Warhol.
In June of 1980, Basquiat’s art was publicly exhibited for the first time
in a group show. In December of 1981, poet and artist/critic Rene Ricard
publishes the first major article on Basquiat entitled "The Radiant Child"
in Artforum magazine. In 1982, Basquiat was featured in a group show along
with Francesco Clemente, David Salle, and Julian Schnabel. Schnabel will
later go on to write and direct the biographical film Basquiat in 1996.
In 1983, Basquiat is included in the "1983 Biennial Exhibition" at the
Whitney Museum of American Art. It is also in 1983 that Basquiat was
befriended by Warhol. They go on to become close friends and collaborate
on many pieces together.
By 1984 many of Basquiat's friends become concerned about his excessive
drug use. His paranoia was also fueled by the very real threat of people
stealing work from his apartment and art dealers taking unfinished work
from his studio. On February 10, 1985, Basquiat appears on the cover of
The New York Times Magazine. At Christie’s spring auction of contemporary
paintings Basquiat’s UNTITLED (SKULL) 1981 brings in a record $19,000. The
painting had originally sold for $4,000 the year before. Basquiat is 23
years old.
By 1985, Basquiat’s deteriorating health becomes more noticeable,
particularly the dark spots on his face. These discolored patches might
have been caused by the removal of his spleen, which kept his body from
cleaning out the toxins from the drugs he took throughout his life. In the
months before his death Basquiat claimed to be doing up to a hundred bags
of heroin a day.
On February 22, 1987 Andy Warhol dies. Basquiat appears devastated by his
loss. He paints GRAVESTONE, a memorial to Warhol. It is said that the
death of
Andy Warhol made the death of Basquiat inevitable as somehow Warhol was
the only person that could always bring Basquiat back from the so-called
edge.
After Andy died there was no one that Jean-Michel was in such awe of that
he
would respond to.
On Friday, August 22, 1988, inside his 57 Great Jones Street loft,
Jean-Michel Basquiat, American painter, died of a heroin overdose.
He was 27 years old.
[Please remember that this
is a very vague and collected biography. An amalgam of sources and little
references. If you have a better version that you'd like to see here or
are thinking of filing some lawsuit please let me know. jasonwentcrazy at
gmail dot com] |
