Three decades after his death, and a career that lasted just about ten years, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s life and art remain an intriguing source of inspiration for contemporary artists, art historians and art collectors. Basquiat’s recognition has increased since his death, in 1988, at age 27, and his works have set auction records.
Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat
Boom for Real: The Late Teenage Years of Jean-Michel Basquiat is a documentary, set for release on May 11, that looks at Basquiat’s life before his catapult to fame.
The film includes interviews with friends and artists, including Jim Jarmusch, James Nares, Fab Five Freddy, Glenn O’Brien, Kenny Scharf, Lee Quinones, Patricia Field, Luc Sante and others who knew young up-and-coming Basquiat as he traversed the art and social scenes in New York.
Basquiat was born in Brooklyn in 1960. His family was upper middle class, but Basquiat left home, slept on friends’ sofas and park benches and liked to portray himself as just a street kid. He supported himself by panhandling, dealing drugs, and peddling hand-painted postcards and T-shirts.
Boom for Real and Other Sayings
Words played a large part in the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. The words Boom for Real appear in several of his works, including Crown. Boom for Real was phrase that he used when he found something exciting or inspiring.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Crown), 1982
Basquiat’s use of words was powerful and thoughtful. His anatomical drawings were inspired by a copy of Gray’s Anatomy that his mother gave him while he recovered from a car accident at age seven. He was able to combine images and words into social commentary that was both beautiful and thought-provoking.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Liberty
Screenprint on paper
22 x 30 inches
Edition:30/50
Signed by Lisane Basquiat & Jeanine Heriveaux
Embossed with Basquiat Estate Stamps
For sale at Surovek Gallery
Basquiat’s heroin addiction led to his too early death at age 27. The Whitney, MoMA, the Brooklyn Museum and other museums around the world have held, and continue to hold, retrospectives of his work.
Jean-Michel Basquiat at Surovek
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