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Haitian father, mother of Puerto Rican descent, grace on his face,

restlessness and art in his heart.

You are on a roller coaster: you have just Warhol inside a restaurant and convinces tormented pop universe, the lessons of the
finished going up an incredibly tall ramp, him to buy a postcard decorated with one great and the affirmation of African Ameri-
every inch of your body tingles with a mix of his drawings. Then it’s time to take on can cultural values, Art Brut and television,
of euphoria and fear as you are about to ca- the entire city. seemingly childlike drawings, monsters, le-
reen down the drop at full speed. Are you Street Art takes off, he climbs on bo- gends, and comics.
ready? Breathe in deeply and hold your ard and takes the wheel. His name starts He calls his style “illiterate art,” while
breath or let it out in a scream if you prefer, circulating around Manhattan’s streets critics talk about Neo-Expressionism, but
because you are on the ride that is Jean-Mi- and avenues. The most colorful decade of Basquiat is not concerned by their opinions.
chel Basquiat’s life. And a life like his must the century is just around the corner and “I don’t listen to what art critics say,” he
be read in one go. Jean-Michel Basquiat is an enfant prodige, often stated, “I don’t know anybody who
We are in New York in the late Seven- enlightened by the thousand lights in the needs a critic to find out what art is.”
ties. Punk is burning out, hip hop is on the city that never sleeps. In 1981, art dealer Emilio Mazzoli takes
rise, and Basquiat is sleeping wherever he Sand flows twice as fast in the hour- Basquiat to Italy and organizes his first in-
can, painting wherever he wants, roaming glass of his life. “He smells of leather, oil ternational solo exhibition in Modena.
at night with his friend Al Diaz and filling paint, tobacco, marijuana, and the faint Upon returning to the United States,
the city’s walls with their signature tag metallic smell of cocaine,” says Suzanne his art invades the galleries in the city where
SAMO (which stands for “same old shit”). Mallouk, a girlfriend and friend of the New dreams come true. It’s the New York of 9 ½
With a Haitian father and a mother of York artist. Weeks and After Hours, Wall Street and Despe-
Puerto Rican descent, Basquiat has grace “I use words like brushstrokes,” Ba- rately Seeking Susan, the first movie starring
on his face, and restlessness and art in his squiat would say. And words are part of his Madonna, who also went on to date Basquiat.
heart. Like Keith Haring, he is a precocious art, along with a thousand other things. The man has a natural elegance. Bare-
talent at the service of an illegal art: graf- Slogans, signs, writings, images, ske- foot in an Armani suit, Basquiat observes
fiti. Basquiat likes to seduce: he sees Andy letons and skulls, energy, contamination, a Manhattan and the world from the cover of

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