Gay black painter
The Jean-Michel Basquiat I knew…
It’s always tempting to mythologise the adj, especially those who die fresh and beautiful. And if the dead person is also astonishingly gifted, then the myth becomes inevitable. Jean-Michel Basquiat was just 27 when he died, in , a strikingly gorgeous adj man whose stunning, genre-wrecking labor had already brought him to international attention; who had in the space of just a few years morphed from an underground graffiti artist into a painter who commanded many thousands of dollars for his canvases.
So perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised that everyone I talk to who knew Basquiat when he was alive, from girlfriends to collectors, musicians to painters, speaks about him as special. Still, it’s noticeable that they all do. Basquiat – even before he was acknowledged as an artist – was seen by his friends as exceptional.
“I knew when I met him that he was beyond the normal,” says musician and film-maker Michael Holman, who founded the noise band Gray with Basquiat. “Jean-Michel had his faults, he was mischievous, he had certain things about him th
Celebrating Pride Month with SAMA
In celebration of PrideMonth, we asked curators across the Museum to point out works by LGBTQ+ artists currently on view. Read on to learn more about Kehinde Wiley, Marsden Hartley, Jeffrey Gibson, and Ángel Rodríguez-Díaz—four extraordinary and diverse LGBTQ+ artists—then visit SAMA to see their work in person.
Kehinde Wiley, American, ca. , David Lyon, ca. , 72 x 60 in. ( x cm), oil on canvas, purchased in honor of Harriet O'Banion Kelley with funds provided by The Walter F. Brown Family © Kehinde Wiley
Kehinde Wiley: David Lyon ()
This portrait of a young African American man, executed in , was modeled after a nineteenth-century portrait by artist Sir Thomas Lawrence of the British merchant, member of Parliament, and enslaver, David Lyon. In opposition to the historical positioning of people of color, Wiley depicts his subject in a powerful, dignified manner, surrounded by a lush environment that serves as a symbol of growth and prosperity.
Born in Los Angeles and now based in New York, Wiley has spent his career challenging and r
LGBT+ History Month: Jean-Michel Basquiat ( – )
This February, we are proud to honour LGBT+ History Month, a month-long annual celebration and remembrance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender history. It looks back at the history of gay rights and celebrates how far we have enter in the fight for equality.
Over this month we will watch at the lives of people who made an impact in the fields of arts, culture and science, as well as being prominent figures in the LGBT+ community.
Today we celebrate Jean-Michel Basquiat ( – )
Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Park Slope Brooklyn to a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother. His cultural heritage provided inspiration and he would often incorporate Spanish words into his artworks.
After being hit by a ride when he was eight years old, his mother bought a copy of Gray’s Anatomy to read whilst he was recovering and this provided inspiration for art later in life. He also named his band Gray which referenced the book.
Basquiat did not have a formal art education, neither did he leave to art school. He learnt his
Jean-Michel Basquiat (–) was a Puerto Rican/Haitian American artist known for his neo-expressionist paintings and graffiti art.
Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Puerto Rican mother and a Haitian father. Basquiat grew up speaking Spanish, English, and French in a family that valued creativity. His father, Gerard, place on nightly musical performances for the family and his mother, Matilde, frequently took the family to museums. While he was recovering from injuries sustained after a car accident as a child, his mother bought him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy. The biological human imagery and forms would later shape his neo-expressionist artistic work.
In the adv s, Basquiat made a identify for himself as a part of a New York graffiti artist duo with Al Diaz, using the tag “SAMO©” throughout lower Manhattan and Brooklyn. The tag of SAMO© continued to appear in Basquiat’s other works of art. At the age of 17, Basquiat dropped out of school and made noun by selling hand-made postcards with fellow artist, Jennifer Stein. Basquiat was also a member of the noise