Who is basquiat

Untitled Dumbbells , Sotheby's New York. Untitled , — Made in Japan II , Phooey , Hamilton-Selway Fine Art. Academic Study of a Male Figure , AC Fine Art.

Leg of a Dog , Boxer Rebellion , Taglialatella Galleries. Jawbone of an Ass , He collaborated with Andy Warhol in the mids, which resulted in a show of their work. Basquiat died on August 12, , in New York City. Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York, on December 22, With a Haitian-American father and a Puerto Rican mother, Basquiat's diverse cultural heritage was one of his many sources of inspiration. A self-taught artist, Basquiat began drawing at an early age on sheets of paper his father, an accountant, brought home from the office.

As he delved deeper into his creative side, his mother strongly encouraged him to pursue his artistic talents. In Basquiat quit high school a year before he was slated to graduate. To make ends meet, he sold sweatshirts and postcards featuring his artwork on the streets of his native New York. In his earlier works, Basquiat was known for using a crown motif, which was his way of celebrating Black people as majestic royalty or deeming them as saints.

Jean measured his skill against all he deemed strong, without prejudice as to their taste or age. Three years of struggle gave way to fame in when Basquiat's work was featured in a group show. His work and style received critical acclaim for the fusion of words, symbols, stick figures, and animals. His rise coincided with the emergence of a new art movement, Neo-Expressionism, ushering in a wave of new, young and experimental artists that included Julian Schnabel and Susan Rothenberg.

In the mids, Basquiat collaborated with famed pop artist Warhol, which resulted in a show of their work that featured a series of corporate logos and cartoon characters. On his own, Basquiat continued to exhibit around the country and the world. In , he traveled to Africa for a show in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. Neo-Expressionism erupted in the s in reaction to minimalism and conceptual art. Essentially, Neo-Expressionism is characterised by a rough handling of material , which is exactly the way Basquiat approached his art.

Thematically, Basquiat drew inspiration from his upbringing and heritage. As a young black man living in New York in the s, he turned to his art to criticise the histories of colonialism and racism pertaining to African Americans. These criticisms as well as those on wealth and poverty are not communicated overtly but instead through motifs. Arguably the most iconic of these are his crowns which serve as criticisms of class and race but also a symbol of Basquiat's own status.

When Basquiat was young, he was involved in a car accident which left him in the hospital for some time. These ideas can be seen through his motifs of feet and different elements of the human body.

Although Basquiat died at the age of 27, his legacy lives on through thousands of paintings and drawings. His work remains especially relevant today given the social and political climates across the world. Just last month, the elusive British street artist, Banksy , graffitied two Basquiat-inspired murals on the walls of the Barbican Centre. While it took artists like Van Gogh to die to become famous, Basquiat reached an unprecedented level of fame at 20 years old. The truly unique quality of his work, the themes he communicated and his romantic rags to riches story continues to attract the intrigue of art world giants and art lovers across the world.

Moral of the story, head on over to the Barbican Centre and marvel at the genius that is Basquiat. Even more Basquiat.