The Man Of The Gutter Basquiat

They were both artists but basquiat was the one who ascended through his graffiti.

The man of the gutter basquiat.

For the love of basquiat more than 25 years after jean michel basquiat died of a drug overdose at 27 his most devoted collectors lenore and herbert schorr are sharing their treasures in a show. Jean michel basquiat died of a heroin overdose at age 27 in 1988 after having been a professional artist for only 7 years. Basquiat s cryptic observation was not far off. Basquiat is a character study of a lonely creative young man and at the same time an insider s pointed glimpse at the new york art scene and especially the people whose money makes it tick.

The enigma of the man behind the 110 million painting. His hastily applied scribbles asked questions about values exposing a society rife with contradictions marked by economic and racial tensions. December 22 1960 august 12 1988 was an american artist of haitian and puerto rican descent. Was he an artist an art star or just a celebrity.

At age 15 he ran away from home and lived in a cardboard box in a park in. Basquiat embedded himself in this urban dystopia as one half of samo a mysterious entity that penned short provocative phrases around the streets of downtown manhattan. Basquiat was a crackhead who chose to live on the street. Thirty years after his death jean michel basquiat defies easy categories.

Basquiat first achieved fame as part of samo an informal graffiti duo who wrote enigmatic epigrams in the cultural hotbed of the lower east side of manhattan during the late 1970s where rap punk and street art coalesced into early hip hop. Jeffrey wright is superb in this biopic as jean michel basquiat the artist who rose from homelessness to fame and fortune only to die of a drug overdose at age 27.