the BASQUIAT super thread

"Jean-Michel Basquiat was a major part of the art scene in the eighties. He originally was noticed for his involvement in the graffiti movement of the late seventies where he, along with companion Al Diaz, went by the tag SAMO. The idea of SAMO was almost like a pseudo-religion, an alternative to the mainstream. Examples of quotes they would write include "PLUSH SAFE HE THINK" and "SAMO AS AN ALTERNATIVE TO MINDWASH."

Basquiat was included in his first group show in 1980. In 1981, Rene Ricard published the first major article on Jean-Michel in Artforum Magazine titled "The Radiant Child." This acted as a catalyst to his career. This same artist that was spray-painting quotes throughout New York was now considered a serious fine artist.

About a year or so after the article, he was included in the Whitney Biennial exhbition and began working with Warhol. Basquiat was doing these wonderful large canvases while working in the space provided by his first dealer, Anina Nosei. He would later change dealers many times, and always felt they were using him. It was almost as if he obsessed over this idea, and tried to use the dealers as much as he felt he was being used. Basquiat wanted to be thought of as a fine artist rather than anything to do with "graffiti." He admired artists like Cy Twombly, Franz Kline, and Jean Dubuffet. Some people have a hard time with his work. They find it too primitive or childish.

Tragically, Jean-Michel died in 1988 from a drug overdose. His health had been declining for some time as he became more and more involved with heroine. He left behind a wealth of paintings and drawings. For more info I suggest "A Quick Killing in Art," by Phoebe Hoban. There's also a film titled "Basquiat" that was a project by his friend and fellow artist Julian Schnabel. It has wonderful performances by Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel and David Bowie as Warhol."

tis dope. layed the groundwerk for the art fag steez. if you like neckface then you should dig basquiat. he got warhol to start doin shit again so.. bump

The movie on Basquiat was good. If you havent seen it yet, you should go check it out. Worhol still alive? I heard he was dead.

Groundbreaking and ugly.

some of his work is ok, but for the most part i don't like it. i guess it's all in what you feel....

definitely a case of in the right place at the right time.

Kinda cool that he wasn't trained and was getting paid, but he pretty much knew that he was being used. He was a pet of sorts. As the saying goes...only thing better than a hot young artist is a dead one.

nothing i respect more than someone who gets their start as a writer, then turns their back on the graff world.

no sir, i do not like it.

seeks, you good for nothing hotlinker, how dare you.

i like it

that is totally homo. 'i've had my computer for a week'. blow it out your ass, butt-munch. i've had my computer since 1991 and i still think hotlinking is the fucking most awesome shit there is.

you fucking douchebag. die.

seeks/that would have been more effective if i said it to him, instead of you guys.

Originally posted by seeking@Dec 15 2004, 10:19 AM

nothing i respect more than someone who gets their start as a writer, then turns their back on the graff world.

Quoted post

he never considered himself a graffiti writer though...did he?

on the flip side...I never thought the graffiti community really claimed him either.

I'll stick with my feeling's of his painting's being crap - formal training or not - as some one said earlier - ground breakingly ugly.

basquiat is dope...some of his shit is crude as hell, but i dig his shit....i love the fragmented text thing that he did...

i can understand why people would be into dude, but i hope that those people can understand why others would think he was bullshit.

as for your first response seeking, if that's sarcasm, please tell me you're not serious.

and for tesseract...

is it just me or does that photo at the top kinda

look like tesser?

hahaha

not serious about what? i really dont know shit about the guy, but it sounds like he got his 'break' because he was associated with the graff scene. if he had such a problem with being considered a writer, she shouldnt have been dick riding graff iinto fame.

you dont have to spend an hour defending him or telling me im wrong, i really dont care at all about the topic. as i said above, i understand why people like him, im just not among them. whatever. to each his own.

maybe it's me, maybe i don't know shit about him

either, but where do you get this idea he was a 'graffiti

writer' that couldn't be something other than a writer, and

becuz he got fame from it and became an 'artist' that

decided not to write on shit anymore, for whatever reason(which

you're assuming he turned his back on it), that his fame is somehow his fault?

if he indeed had a problem with the graff image thing, it

was that people slotted him as this rough around the edges animal from the ghetto that was a black graffiti writer instead of a guy that

was into art and happened to write on shit once in awhile.

not quite an hour, but hey....what the fuck.

Originally posted by BROWNer@Dec 15 2004, 10:06 PM

is it just me or does that photo at the top kinda

look like tesser?

hahaha

Quoted post

Hahaha, you fuck...

and no, it doesnt look like the tesserman at all.

[attachmentid=3929]

i

I personally think his shit sucked. But on a lighter note, my boy's cousin Jeffrey Wright played Basquait in the movie. He's in too, he played Basquait as a kid in the begining part of the movie.

ok, you win.

as i said, i dont even care enough about the subject to discuss it. i just have a real disdain for anyone that i feel has used graff to get anything, then made a specific effort to seperate themselves from it. if that's not the case, cool, i'm glad. it's one strike i can remove from his name. now if i could just find a way to overlook what i feel is talentless, self involved, schizophrenic scribbling, i could probably be feeling the guy.

ha, well it's kinda interesting to look at, no?

btw, julien schnabel is fucking awesome.

you should all rent 'before night falls', the

film he made after he did basquiat.

I did see the movie and have to admit it was entertaining. Like most movies it was really cleaned up for the public. The film didn't address his bisexuality and played down his drug addictions a bit as well.

The only connection between him and graffiti was that he spray painted little phrases on shit. No throws, no pieces...just basic handwriting and the name samo. Apparently after his success...anything with samo on it was literally cut out of wherever it was.

the man:

and the writing on the wall:

julien schnabel is a pretty good slam poet as well.. i managed to catch some of his readings when i lived in d.c.

..eh fuck it i'd rather not argue about the definition of graffiti in that time period....i dig baquiat...my favorite work of his has to be the illustrations he did for maya angelou's short story/poetry book..

come to think of it i pretty much like all art..weither i understand most of it is a different story

i dig basquiat's stuff, hey its just a personal preference, i really get into the earlier art brut stuff as well.

I think his work is pretty mind-blowing. The street stuff does nothing for me, but the canvases are awesome. I was able to see a couple in person and the madness vibe I got off it made me all tingly. I don't think he "got" his fame from the graffiti scene, it just happened that he wrote graffiti when he was discovered. And it wasn't really tagging, it was more of a write random thoughts on walls type of thing. I can see how people don't like it, but if everyone liked something then it wouldn't really be art, it would be homogenized.

And to the person that said he watched the movie and asked if Warhol is still alive: STOP DOING DRUGS THEY ARE AFFECTING YOUR ABILITY TO FOLLOW PLOTLINES.

Got the new basquiat book for xmas

some collabs with Warhol

looking nice.