The late twentieth century was a time of artistic innovation like none before it. Creativity was about breaking rules, crossing boundaries, and questioning the norm. Counter-culture became mainstream culture as the hip-hop, post-punk and street art movements became not only well-known, but celebrated. This was the world in which Jean-Michel Basquiat began his career. Over the course of a decade, Basquiat would grow from an anonymous graffiti artist to one of the most influential painters of his genre.
Basquiat, who is of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, was born in 1960 in Brooklyn, New York. He was raised in a diverse cultural environment and by age 11, he was fluent in French, Spanish, and English. Basquiat’s mother introduced him to art early, encouraging his growing passion for drawing by taking him to art museums and eventually enrolling him as a junior member in the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
While Basquiat’s childhood helped him develop his passion for art, he also faced many struggles growing up. When he was 8 years old, his parents separated, after which he lived with his father; his mother was later committed to a mental institution and spent time in and out of institutions for years after. As an adolescent, Basquiat’s home life was far from picturesque. His turbulent relationship with his father led him to run away at age 15, living on the streets for a week before being arrested and returned home. When Basquiat dropped out of high school at 17 years old, his father kicked him out of the house. For the next few years, he lived with friends, selling postcards and T-shirts to support himself.
In 1976, Basquiat and his friend Al Diaz formed the graffiti duo SAMO. Over the next three years, SAMO became well-known throughout downtown Manhattan, where they tagged buildings with short phrases that alternated between poetry and satire. In addition to gaining recognition through SAMO, Basquiat began regularly appearing  on the show TV Party hosted by Glenn O’Brien, and he formed the noise rock band Test Pattern (later renamed Gray) in 1979, playing at nightclubs around the city.
In 1980, Basquiat’s work started gaining more attention after his art was displayed in The Times Square Show. He then joined the Annina Mosei gallery and, in 1981, opened his first solo exhibit. Over the course of the 80s, Basquiat rose to fame as part of a rising new art movement, neo-expressionism, which was characterized by vivid, expressive depictions of everyday objects and scenes. Basquiat’s paintings joined together text, images, and symbols, using bright colors and bold brushstrokes to create striking, surreal collages. In his work, he often explored themes of classism, segregation, and the struggle against American systems of racism. Basquiat’s work was often characterized by recurring images of heads, skulls, and crowns, as well as frequent depictions of African landscapes and culture. He drew inspiration from the book Gray’s Anatomy and Leonardo da Vinci’s notebooks.
As his career continued, Basquiat worked with other prominent artists of the time; in 1982, he produced the single “Beat Bop” featuring hip-hop artists Rammellzee and K-Rob, and went on to briefly work with the late singer and actor David Bowie. Perhaps the most notable artist Basquiat collaborated with was renowned pop artist Andy Warhol, whom he met and befriended in 1980. Throughout the mid-1980s, the pair created numerous paintings together, Warhol serving as Basquiat’s mentor while Basquiat inspired Warhol to return to painting on canvas.
Warhol’s death in 1987 severely affected Basquiat, worsening his depression and heroin addiction. He became increasingly paranoid, isolating himself from family and friends, and, despite an attempt at sobriety, died of a heroin overdose at age 27 in 1988. Despite Basquiat’s tragic death, the art world has continued to celebrate his work to this day. Modern critics and art historians alike revere Basquiat for his unique art style, as well as the social commentary he conveyed through his work.
The High Museum of Art opened the exhibit “Basquiat: The Unknown Notebooks” in February. It features 160 rare pages from Basquiat’s notebooks, as well as 30 other works from his collection & estate.