Basquiat: Life and Work
A lushly illustrated new book by Taschen about the first Street Art master
Jean-Michel Basquiat was a street kid and a graffiti master who ascended to the top of the art world in the early 1980s, befriending Andy Warhol and making millions. Brooklyn-born, he had a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother, who was institutionalized when Jean-Michel was 13. His art evolved from graffiti to more sophisticated forms, critiquing racism and expressing his inner demons and the madness of his age. By the mid-’80s, Basquiat’s heroin habit had become a serious problem, and the death of Warhol in 1987 sent him into a emotional tailspin. He died of an overdose in 1988. He was 27.
Now the publisher Taschen has taken on the life and work of Basquiat for its Basic Books series. The author is art scholar Leonhard Emmerling, and a sample of the nearly 100 illustrations included are offered here.
