Jean-Michel Basquiat (bäs´´k-ät´) (December 22, 1960 - August 12, 1988) was an American artist born in Brooklyn, New York. He gained fame, first as a graffiti artist in New York City, and then as a highly successful avant-garde artist in the international art scene of the 1980s. December 22 is the 356th day of the year (357th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1960 (MCMLX) was a leap year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. ... For other meanings, see Brooklyn (disambiguation). ... Official language(s) None, English de facto Capital Albany Largest city New York City Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 27th 141,205 km² 455 km 530 km 13. ... For the handwriting system, see Graffiti (Palm OS). ... A work similar to Marcel Duchamps Fountain Avant garde (written avant-garde) is a French phrase, one of many French phrases used by English speakers. ...

Early life

His mother, Matilde, was Puerto Rican and his father, Gerard, was of Haitian origin. At an early age, Basquiat displayed an aptitude for art and was encouraged by his mother to draw, paint, and to participate in other art-related activities.

In 1977, when he was 17, Basquiat and his friend Al Diaz started spray-painting graffiti art on subway cars and slum buildings in lower Manhattan, adding the infamous signature of SAMO, meaning Same Old Shit. For the handwriting system, see Graffiti (Palm OS). ... Manhattan Borough,highlighted in yellow, lies between the East River and the Hudson River. ...

In 1978, Basquiat left home and dropped out of Edward R. Murrow High School a year before graduating. He lived with friends and survived by selling T-shirts and postcards. In 1980, he participated in a multi-artist exhibition, sponsored by Collaborative Projects Incorporated. During the next few years, he continued exhibiting his works around New York alongside artists such as Keith Haring and Barbara Kruger. Many have recognized Jean-Michel Basquiat as being a great artist including the highly renowned Stiele Hagens who introduced Kierin to Basquiat resulting in Kierin being very grateful and thinking Stiele was very cool indeed. Edward R. Murrow High School, founded in 1974 by Saul Bruckner, is located in the Midwood section of Brooklyn, New York. ... Keith Haring (May 4, 1958 - February 16, 1990) was a pre-eminent artist and social activist born in Reading, Pennsylvania and raised in Kutztown, Pennsylvania, whose work responded to the New York street culture of the 1980s. ... Barbara Kruger (b. ...

Art Periods

Basquiat's art career is known for his three broad, though overlapping styles.

In the earliest period, from 1980 to late 1982, Basquiat used painterly gestures on canvas, most often depicting skeletal figures and mask-like faces that expressed his obsession with mortality, and imagery derived from his street existence, such as automobiles, buildings, police, children's sidewalk games, and graffiti. 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

A middle period from late 1982 to 1985 features multipanel paintings and individual canvases with exposed stretcher bars, the surface dense with writing, collage and seemingly unrelated imagery. These works reveal a strong interest in Basquiat's black and Hispanic identity and his identification with historical and contemporary black figures and events. 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ...

The last style, from about 1986 to Basquiat's death in 1988, displays a new type of figurative depiction, in a new painterly style, with different symbols, sources, and content. Carlitos Alvarez Villanueva was amongst these artists, he was better known as King Carlitos Brigante. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1988 (MCMLXXXVIII) was a leap year starting on a Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Warhol

In 1983, Basquiat befriended Andy Warhol and the two made a number of collaborative works. They also painted together, influencing each others' work. Some speculated that Andy Warhol was merely using Basquiat for some of his techniques and insight. Their relationship continued until Warhol's death. 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Andy Warhol, photographed by Helmut Newton. ...

By 1984, many of Basquiat's friends were concerned about his excessive drug use and increasingly erratic behaviour, including signs of paranoia. Basquiat appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine in a feature entitled "New Art, New Money: The Marketing of an American Artist" in 1985. Recreational drug use is the use of psychoactive drugs for recreational rather than for working or for medical or spiritual purposes, although the distinction is not always clear. ...

As Basquiat's international success heightened, his works were shown in solo exhibitions across major European capitals. Basquiat travelled to Africa in 1986 and his work was shown on the Ivory Coast. A satellite composite image of Africa Africa is the worlds second-largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. ... Côte dIvoire (often called Ivory Coast in English; see below about the name) is a country in West Africa. ...

Warhol's death in 1987 was very distressing for Basquiat. He continued to struggle with his addictions. He died of a heroin overdose in his Great Jones St. loft/studio in 1988. Heroin or diacetylmorphine (INN) is a semi-synthetic opioid. ...

Movies

Basquiat's character has also been represented in motion pictures. He has been portrayed by Jeffrey Wright in Basquiat, a bio-pic about the artist directed by Julian Schnabel, and he played himself in, Downtown 81 (a.k.a New York Beat Movie), and in Blondie's video for "Rapture". Jeffrey Wright as Jean-Michel Basquiat in Basquiat (1996). ... Basquiat (pronounced BAS-KEE-AH) is a 1996 film directed by Julian Schnabel which is loosly based on the life of African American graffiti artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. ... A biographical film or biopic is a film about a particular person or group of people, based on events that actually happened. ... Julian Schnabel (born New York, 1951) is an American painter, sculptor and filmmaker. ... Originally shot in 1980-81, this film, directed by Edo Bertoglio, is a rare real-life snapshot of ultra-hip subculture of post-punk era Manhattan. ... Blondie is an American rock band that first gained fame in the 1970s and early 1980s. ...

See also

• List of famous Puerto Ricans
• chinghalle

list of famous Puerto Ricans in alphabetical order by last names, where applicable. ...

External links

• Street to Studio Short interactive Basquiat bio for children

• Brooklyn Museum retrospective of Basquiat, including photographs of the artist and his work.