Jean-Michel Basquiat 1960 – 1988

I was suprised how much I enjoyed this task. I was dreading it as I thought ‘How can I possibly compare myself to an established artist in any way, shape or form?’ But the more time I spent researching the easier it became.

Basquiat was hit by a car when he was 7 and his mum gave him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy (an illustrated medical reference book) while he was recovering to help him understand what was happening to him. He intensely and obsessively studied the book and it clearly had a huge impact on him and it’s easy to see the references to anatomy in his work. He applies paint in a confident manner and uses various mediums to achieve his images.

His work had a child-like quality and is full of symbols and references. He also uses text in much of his work, not only in his early work as SAMO which is heavily text based but also throughout his later work. Although he had no formal art education, it seems to me that this was an advantage for him as he was free of constraints of what he should or shouldn’t do. He also draws on his Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage.

I am at the beginning of learning about technique, style, form etc and my narrative is almost entirely different to his but I share the freedom of no formal education and an obsessive personality which is a gift and a curse. During the researching phase for this comparison, I felt hugely inspired by Basquiat’s personal journey, his energy and his huge volume of work and I loved immersing myself for a few days in early 80’s NY and the wild and exciting emerging Art, Music and Culture scene from that time.

In the drawings below I can compare my work in that the first appears to be random yet ordered text, interspersed with symbols, shapes and half sketches. I often create in a similar random and ordered way.

The second image, black pen on paper with sparse red scribble lines I am drawn to as I like minimal and monochromatic colour and I have enjoyed seeing the power of a single bright can bring to the image. I first spotted this in William Kentridge’s charcoals with the small red details. I can compare this to the work I did for the self led brief. (Image below)

Untitled (The Daros Suite of 32 Drawings) 1982-3. Both images from this series.