Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Art Is Still Re-Defining Culture

HYPEBEAST Features Friday September 22, 2017 [hypebeast] Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Art Is Still Re-Defining Culture In May this year a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat sold for $110.5 million USD. The sale, impressive in and of itself, saw the late artist break numerous records, with the picture becoming the most expensive work ever sold by an American artist, the most expensive work by a black artist, and the first $100 million USD artwork to have been created after 1980. It also meant that his cultural legacy was one of the 20th century’s most important artists was confirmed. People have been fascinated by Basquiat’s life and career since the moment he burst onto the New York art scene as a precociously talented 19-year-old in 1980. He lived at a cross section of art and popular culture that only a handful of other artists have occupied: a reported relationship with Madonna, a friendship with David Bowie, and an appearance in COMME des GARÇONS Spring/Summer 1987 show all helped make the young artist a cultural sensation. Basquiat’s real rise to fame, however, began with SAMO – a pseudonym used by the artist and his friend Al Diaz. “Me and JMB became friends in the fall of 1976, at City-As-School, an alternative high school in Brooklyn,” Diaz explains, recalling their first meeting. The two quickly grew close and, later that year, developed SAMO from a series of satirical stories and leaflets into a message that would be sprayed across the city. “We began to spread our satirical message of SAMO through graffiti,” says Diaz, “it would very quickly develop into a vehicle for voicing opinions on the world around us as we observed it. We were creating an entirely new style of graffiti. It was literate and message-based.” [hypebeast] Over time, SAMO continued to develop and the graffiti messages continued to spread throughout Lower Manhattan. “We often were site specific,” explains Diaz of the messages. “Art gallery areas got art world-related messages (‘SAMO AS AN END 2 ALL THIS MEDIOCRE ART’), trendy areas would get trend-related messages (‘SAMO AS AN END 2 MEDIA CONTROLLED FADS’).” As Diaz recalls, the whole SAMO project only lasted around a year, but its themes and messages were an influential part of creating what we now instantly recognize as Basquiat: “I believe all this was a launching pad for Basquiat’s later work. He would see the direction to take, most obviously the use of provocative words permanently became a big part of his aesthetic.” At around the time that the SAMO was dissipating, Basquiat was forging new friendships and immersing himself in the New York art scene. He became close to Keith Haring, he appeared on Glenn O’Brien’s TV Party and he got to know Andy Warhol. “By the winter of 1978 we had been ‘outed’ by the Village Voice and the whole thing seemed to lose its meaning for me,” says Diaz. “JMB saw this as his time to ride the wave. We grew apart as friends on several levels. At the core we were simply becoming who we are/were.” The rapid rise that would follow was no surprise to Diaz: “I always knew JMB was a very special, ambitious and talented fellow. Smart as a whip, an encyclopedic sense of perception. He seemed to absorb information without sitting and reading for a very long periods of time.” Like Al Diaz, people knew that Basquiat was a once in a generation talent. What they perhaps didn’t know, though, was the extent to which the artist would continue to influence popular culture almost 30 years after his untimely death in 1988. Since then Basquiat’s life and career have been taken to a new audience, with two of the most notable examples being Supreme’s 2013 capsule collection that featured his work and JAY-Z’s recent video for 4:44 which includes an excerpt from a 1985 interview with the artist. These collaborations and references are proof of Basquiat’s long-lasting cultural importance. The fact that brands like Supreme (as well as Reebok, CLOT and Uniqlo to name but a few) and musicians such as JAY-Z (who is also a collector) continue to reference Basquiat is testament to the artist’s enduring legacy. “I always knew JMB was a very special, ambitious and talented fellow. Smart as a whip, an encyclopedic sense of perception. He seemed to absorb information without sitting and reading for a very long periods of time.” [READ FULL ARTICLE ON HYPEBEAST →]( More HYPEBEAST Features [[hypebeast] Will Cowboy Boots Be Fall’s Biggest Footwear Trend?]( [[hypebeast] The Best New Singles of the Week: Lil Uzi Vert, The Weeknd, Blood Orange and More]( [[hypebeast] J.W.Anderson x Uniqlo Leads This Week’s Best European Product Drops]( Follow Us Download Our App Free on iOS and Android 2017 Hypebeast Limited. All Rights Reserved. [Unsubscribe](