The legend of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) remains intact. Symbol of 1980s New York, the artist began his career in the late 1970s under the pseudonym SAMO, filling the city walls with graffiti containing biting messages and fragments of poems. He was part of a thriving underground scene made up of all kinds of artists dedicated to visual arts, graffiti, hip-hop, post-punk, and amateur film. Basquiat, a painter with a powerful personal voice, soon succeeded in more conventional settings and exhibited in galleries worldwide.
Basquiat’s expressive style was based on rudimentary figures to which he added words and phrases. His work inspired a whole cast of jazz, boxing, and basketball celebrities, with esoteric references and street life. When asked about the main theme of his work, Basquiat replied “royalty, heroism, and the streets.” In 1983 he began collaborating with the most famous star in the art world, Andy Warhol, and in 1985 he was featured on the cover of The New York Times Magazine. When Basquiat died at 27, he had already become one of the most successful artists of his time.
Originally published in XXL edition, this unprecedented approach to Basquiat’s art is now available in a compact and accessible volume to celebrate TASCHEN’s 40th anniversary. Through flawless reproductions of his most outstanding paintings, drawings, and sketches, you can admire in detail the artist’s complex signs and cryptic scribbles and delve into his world thanks to an introduction by editor Hans Werner Holzwarth and an essay on his themes and creative evolution by curator and art historian Eleanor Nairne. Organized by years and richly illustrated, the chapters trace Basquiat’s life with quotes from the artist himself and reviews that provide the reader with both a personal perspective and historical context.
