Basquiat - Revue DADA N° 159

In the 1980s, Basquiat created a unique style, tortured and revolted, the artist denounced, among other things, racism and the oppression of minorities. Basquiat first started by doing graffitis in the streets of Manhattan under the pseudonym SAMO ("Same Old Shit") before conquering the city's largest galleries. Wounded in his youth Basquiat spends several weeks in hospital, to keep him busy his mother offers him an anatomy book. The young Basquiat is then fascinated by anatomical motifs, which will be found throughout his career in his work (skull, teeth, skeletal forms...). Basquiat was a great friend of Warhol and the two artists created four-handed works mixing their two styles. Undermined by drugs and the death of his friend Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat's dazzling career came to an end in 1987, the artist died at the age of 27 of an overdose.