Pablo gamaleri basquiat biography

After Andy Warhol died, Basquiat suffered greatly from the lost friendship. Ultimately his addiction to heroin led to his own death at age 27 in Today, Basquiat works have been darlings of international contemporary collectors and celebrities who have opted for the homage to history. From lower Manhattan to discovery by Andy Warhol, Jean-Micheal Basquiat became an unmistakeable icon for the arts.

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 early works often featured the iconographic depiction of crowns and halos to distinguish heroes and saints in his specially chosen pantheon.

Jean measured his skill against all he deemed strong, without prejudice as to their taste or age," said his friend and artist Francesco Clemente. For Basquiat, these heroes and saints are warriors, occasionally rendered triumphant with arms raised in victory. Basquiat was particularly a fan of bebop and cited saxophonist Charlie Parker as a hero. His depiction of anatomical parts, such as exposed internal organs and skeletal structures, mirrors the violent fragmentation of black identity under systemic racism.

A major reference source used by Basquiat throughout his career was the book Gray's Anatomy , which his mother had given him while he was in the hospital when he was seven. Art historian Olivier Berggruen situates in Basquiat's anatomical screen prints Anatomy an assertion of vulnerability, one which "creates an aesthetic of the body as damaged, scarred, fragmented, incomplete, or torn apart, once the organic whole has disappeared.

Paradoxically, it is the very act of creating these representations that conjures a positive corporeal valence between the artist and his sense of self or identity. Heads and skulls are significant focal points of many of Basquiat's most seminal works. Basquiat's diverse cultural heritage was one of his many sources of inspiration.

Basquiat's La Hara , a menacing portrait of a white police officer, combines the Nuyorican slang term for police la jara and the Irish surname O'Hara. Basquiat sought to portray that African-Americans have become complicit with the "institutionalized forms of whiteness and corrupt white regimes of power" years after the Jim Crow era had ended.

In the essay "Lost in Translation: Jean-Michel in the Re Mix," Kellie Jones posits that Basquiat's "mischievous, complex, and neologistic side, with regard to the fashioning of modernity and the influence and effluence of black culture" are often elided by critics and viewers, and thus "lost in translation. His work disrupts the boundaries of high art, redefining the aesthetics of black identity through distinctive use of symbols, language, and visual style.

Basquiat's engagement with black identity is inseparable from his exploration of a commodified American Africanism. Through his "economies of accumulation," [ ] Basquiat challenges the simplified constructions of blackness, rejecting the essentialist narratives imposed by the art world. His art incorporates motifs that signify historical and modern racial struggles, rendering the African American experience as both a subject of critique and aesthetic innovation.

His depictions of the black body resist reductive racial representations, instead offering a vibrant, complex subjectivity that reclaims blackness from its "aesthetic colonization". Basquat's use of graffiti and street art, often marginalized within the traditional art world, communicates stories of resistance and identity that resonate with the broader African diaspora.

Moreover, Basquiat's artworks evoke a historical and political consciousness, often referencing figures from both the African American cultural pantheon and Western scientific history. His piece Untitled Charles Darwin juxtaposes the legacy of evolutionary science with broader themes of marginality, connecting the legacies of Darwin , Huxley , and Mendel to the commodification of blackness and the manipulation of scientific discourse for socio-political ends.

This interplay between science and art highlights how Basquiat critiques both racial and intellectual histories, revealing their entanglement in narratives of oppression and commodification. His collaborations with artists from the hip-hop generation, such as Fab 5 Freddy and Lady Pink , emphasize the fusion of neo-expressionism with the rhythmic, improvisational qualities of hip-hop.

This synthesis of art and music positions Basquiat as a figure who not only represented blackness but actively participated in shaping its cultural expression during the s. His works, much like the art of graffiti, blur the lines between high art and street culture, reinforcing the legitimacy of non-traditional forms of black expression.

Shortly after his death, The New York Times indicated that Basquiat was "the most famous of only a small number of young black artists who have achieved national recognition. Traditionally, the interpretation of Basquiat's works at the visual level comes from the subdued emotional tone of what they represent compared to what is actually depicted.

For example, the figures in his paintings, as stated by writer Stephen Metcalf , "are shown frontally, with little or no depth of field, and nerves and organs are exposed, as in an anatomy textbook. Are these creatures dead and being clinically dissected, one wonders, or alive and in immense pain? A second recurrent reference to Basquiat's aesthetics comes from the artist's intention to share, in the words of gallerist Niru Ratnam, a "highly individualistic, expressive view of the world".

Art critics have also compared Basquiat's work to the emergence of hip-hop during the same era. I'm always amazed at how people come up with things. Like Jean-Michel. How did he come up with the words he puts all over everything, his way of making a point without overstating the case, using one or two words he reveals a political acuity, gets the viewer going in the direction he wants, the illusion of the bombed-over wall.

One or two words containing a full body. One or two words on a Jean-Michel contain the entire history of graffiti. What he incorporates into his pictures, whether found or made, is specific and selective. He has a perfect idea of what he's getting across, using everything that collates to his vision. Curator Marc Mayer wrote in the essay "Basquiat in History":.

Basquiat speaks articulately while dodging the full impact of clarity like a matador. We can read his pictures without strenuous effort—the words, the images, the colors and the construction—but we cannot quite fathom the point they belabor. Keeping us in this state of half-knowing, of mystery-within-familiarity, had been the core technique of his brand of communication since his adolescent days as the graffiti poet SAMO.

To enjoy them, we are not meant to analyze the pictures too carefully. Quantifying the encyclopedic breadth of his research certainly results in an interesting inventory, but the sum cannot adequately explain his pictures, which requires an effort outside the purview of iconography In the s, art critic Robert Hughes dismissed Basquiat's work as absurd.

In a review for The Daily Telegraph , art critic Hilton Kramer begins by stating that Basquiat had no idea what the word "quality" meant. He relentlessly criticized Basquiat as a "talentless hustler" and "street-smart but otherwise invincibly ignorant", arguing that he "used his youth, his looks, his skin colour and his abundant sex appeal to win an overnight fame that proved to be his undoing" and that art dealers of the time were "as ignorant about art as Basquiat himself.

In , the Brant Foundation in New York, hosted an extensive exhibition of Basquiat's works with free admission. Basquiat's family curated Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure , an immersive exhibition with over never-before-seen and rarely shown works. In , the Albertina presented the first museum retrospective of Basquiat's work in Austria.

Moritz gallery. Recalling that year, Basquiat said, "I had some money; I made the best paintings ever. Brett Gorvy, deputy chairman of Christie's , is quoted describing Basquiat's market as "two-tiered The most coveted material is rare, generally dating from the best period, — In , Basquiat's painting Hannibal was seized by federal authorities as part of an embezzlement scheme by convicted Brazilian money launderer and former banker Edemar Cid Ferreira.

In , Florida art dealer Daniel Elie Bouaziz was sentenced to 27 months in federal prison for a money laundering scheme to sell counterfeit contemporary artworks, including pieces purportedly by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, and Banksy. The authentication committee of the estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat was formed by the Robert Miller Gallery, the gallery that was assigned to handle Basquiat's estate after his death, in part to wage battle against the growing number of fakes and forgeries in the Basquiat market.

Members varied depending on who was available at the time when a piece was being authenticated, but they have included the curators and gallerists Diego Cortez , Jeffrey Deitch , Annina Nosei, John Cheim, Richard Marshall, Fred Hoffman, and publisher Larry Warsh. In , the authentication committee was sued by collector Gerard De Geer, who claimed the committee breached its contract by refusing to offer an opinion on the authenticity of the painting Fuego Flores Basquiat had romantic relationships with many women, including singer Madonna.

It did not rely on visual stimulation, such as a pretty girl. It was a very rich multichromatic sexuality. He was attracted to people for all different reasons. They could be boys, girls, thin, fat, pretty, ugly He was attracted to intelligence more than anything and to pain. Biographer Phoebe Hoban wrote on Basquiat's first sexual experiences, which were with men.

As a teenager, Basquiat told a friend that he worked as a prostitute on 42nd Street in Manhattan when he ran away from home. Basquiat's estate was administered by his father, Gerard Basquiat, until his passing in Before the exhibition Basquiat: Boom for Real at London's Barbican Centre in , graffiti artist Banksy created two murals inspired by Basquiat on the walls of the Barbican.

In , a public square in the 13th arrondissement of Paris was named Place Jean-Michel Basquiat in his memory. Martens , [ ] Reebok , [ ] and Vivobarefoot have also collaborated with Basquiat's estate. The campaign incorporated Tiffany's recently acquired painting, Equals Pi , by Basquiat. The painting heavily features a color close to the company's signature robin egg blue.

The campaign was met with criticism from the artist's friends and colleagues. Most notably his hairstyles and clothing. In , it was reported that actor Kelvin Harrison Jr. In , poet Kevin Young published the book To Repel Ghosts , a compendium of poems relating to Basquiat's life, individual paintings, and social themes found in the artist's work.

He published a "remix" of the book in In , poet M. And Ugly Too. Shortly after Basquiat's death, guitarist Vernon Reid of the funk metal band Living Colour wrote a song called "Desperate People", released on their album Vivid. The song primarily addresses the drug scene of New York at that time. Reid was inspired to write the song after receiving a phone call from Greg Tate informing him of Basquiat's death.

The release date of "Old School" coincided with the anniversary of Basquiat's death. Contents move to sidebar hide. Article Talk. Read Edit View history. Tools Tools. Download as PDF Printable version. In other projects. Wikimedia Commons Wikiquote Wikidata item. American artist — For other uses, see Basquiat disambiguation. Basquiat by Andy Warhol in New York City , U.

Neo-expressionism graffiti street art. Biography [ edit ]. Early life: — [ edit ]. Street art and Gray: — [ edit ]. Rise to fame and success: — [ edit ]. Final years and death: — [ edit ]. Artistry [ edit ]. See also: List of paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Drawings [ edit ]. Heroes and saints [ edit ]. Death and Marginalization [ edit ].

Heritage [ edit ]. Blackness, Identity, and Aesthetics [ edit ]. Reception [ edit ]. Exhibitions [ edit ]. Art market [ edit ]. Forgeries [ edit ]. Authentication committee [ edit ]. Sexuality [ edit ]. Haring in particular was a notable rival as well as a friend, and the two are often remembered as competing with each other to improve the scope, scale, and ambition of their work.

The two both gained recognition at similar points in their careers, progressing in parallel to reach the heights of art world stardom. Due in part to his immersion in this downtown scene, Basquiat began to gain more opportunities to show his art, and became a key figure in the new downtown artistic movement. For example, he appeared as a nightclub DJ in Blondie's music video Rapture , cementing his cache as a figure within the "new wave" of cool music, art, and film emerging from the Lower East Side.

During this time he also formed and performed with his band Gray. Basquiat was critical of the lack of people of color in the downtown scene, however, and in the late s he also began spending time uptown with graffiti artists in the Bronx and Harlem. After his work was included in the historic Times Square Show of June , Basquiat's profile rose higher, and he had his first solo exhibition in at the Annina Nosei Gallery in SoHo.

Rene Ricard's Artforum article, "The Radiant Child", of December , solidified Basquiat's position as a rising star in the wider art world, as well as the conjunction between the uptown graffiti and downtown punk scenes his work represented. Basquiat's rise to wider recognition coincided with the arrival in New York of the German Neo-Expressionist movement, which provided a congenial forum for his own street-smart, curbside expressionism.

Basquiat began exhibiting regularly alongside artists like Julian Schnabel and David Salle , all of whom were reacting, to one degree or another, against the recent art-historical dominance of Conceptualism and Minimalism. Neo-Expressionism marked the return of painting and the re-emergence of the human figure in contemporary art making.

Images of the African Diaspora and classic Americana punctuated Basquiat's work at this time, some of which was featured at the prestigious Mary Boone Gallery in solo shows in the mid s Basquiat was later represented by art dealer and gallerist Larry Gagosian in Los Angeles. He opened six solo shows in cities across the world, and became the youngest artist ever to be included in Documenta, the prestigious international contemporary art extravaganza held every five years in Kassel, Germany.

During this time, Basquiat created some art works and developed a signature motif: a heroic, crowned black oracle figure. The legendary jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie and boxers Sugar Ray Robinson, and Muhammad Ali were among Basquiat's inspirations for his work during this period. Sketchy and often abstract, the portraits captured the essence rather than the physical likeness of their subjects.

The ferocity of Basquiat's technique, with slashes of paint and dynamic dashes of line, was intended to reveal what he saw as his subjects' inner self, their hidden feelings, and their deepest desires. These works also reinforced the intellect and passion of their subjects, rather than being fixated on the fetishized Black male body.

Another epic figuration, based on the West African griot , also features heavily in this era of Basquiat's work. The griot propagated community history in West African culture through storytelling and song, and he was typically depicted by Basquiat with a grimace and squinting elliptical eyes fixed securely on the observer. Basquiat's artistic strategies and personal ascendency was in keeping with a wider Black Renaissance in the New York art world of the same era exemplified by the widespread attention being given at the time to the work of artists such as Faith Ringgold and Jacob Lawrence.

By the early s, Basquiat had befriended Pop artist Andy Warhol , with whom he collaborated on a series of works from to , such as Ten Punching Bags Last Supper Warhol would often paint first, then Basquiat would layer over his work. This relationship became the subject of friction between Basquiat and many of his downtown contemporaries, as it appeared to mark a new interest in the commercial dimension of the art market.

Warhol was also criticized for potential exploitation of a young and fashionable artist of color to boost his own credentials as current and relevant to the newly significant East Village scene. Broadly speaking, these collaborations were not well received by either audiences or critics, and are now often viewed as lesser works of both artists.

Perhaps as a result of the new-found fame and commercial pressure put upon his work, Basquiat was by this point of his life becoming increasingly addicted to both heroin and cocaine. Several friends linked this dependency to the stress of maintaining his career and the pressures of being a person of color in a predominantly white art world. Basquiat died of a heroin overdose in his apartment in at the age of In his short life Jean-Michel Basquiat nonetheless came to play an important and historic role in the rise of the downtown cultural scene in New York and Neo-Expressionism more broadly.

While the larger public latched on to the superficial exoticism of his work and were captivated by his overnight celebrity, his art, which has often been described inaccurately as "naif" and "ethnically gritty", held important connections to expressive precursors, such as Jean Dubuffet and Cy Twombly. A product of the celebrity and commerce-obsessed culture of the s, Basquiat and his work continue to serve for many observers as a metaphor for the dangers of artistic and social excess.

Like the comic book superheroes that formed an early influence, Basquiat rocketed to fame and riches, and then, just as speedily, fall back to Earth, the victim of drug abuse and eventual overdose. The recipient of posthumous retrospectives at the Brooklyn Museum and the Whitney Museum of American Art , as well as the subject of numerous biographies and documentaries, including Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child , and Julian Schnabel's feature film, Basquiat ; starring former friend David Bowie as Andy Warhol , Basquiat and his counter-cultural legacy persist.

Pablo gamaleri basquiat biography

In , another film Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean Michel Basquiat was released to critical acclaim, also inspiring an exhibition of the same title at the Barbican art gallery in London. His art remains a constant source of inspiration for contemporary artists, and his short life a constant source of interest and speculation for an art industry that thrives on biographical legend.

Alongside his friend and contemporary Keith Haring, Basquiat's art has come to stand in for that particular period of countercultural New York art. Both artists' work is frequently exhibited alongside the other's most recently in the exhibition 'Keith Haring I Jean-Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines' in Melbourne, Australia , and there have been a number of commercial licenses granted for the reproduction of several of his visual motifs.

Recently this has included a range of graphic print shirts at Uniqlo displaying the work of both artists. The rise in Basquiat's profile since his death has also pushed new artists to make work inspired by or even in direct reference to his work. This includes painters, graffiti and installation artists working within the gallery, but also musicians, poets and filmmakers.

Musicians such as Kojey Radical, Shabaka Hutchings, and Lex Amor have similarly praised his work as informing their own. These three musical artists in particular appeared alongside others on Untitled , a collaborative compilation released as a tribute to Basquiat in by London based record label The Vinyl Factory. Content compiled and written by Bonnie Rosenberg.

Edited and revised, with Summary and Accomplishments added by Lewis Church. The Art Story. Important Art. SAMO Untitled Skull Untitled Black Skull Flexible Untitled History of the Black People Arm and Hammer II