Tortured Soul who expressed his torment and the ugly chaos he felt and saw in the world as best he could. The heroine and mental illness only fueled a type of madness only some Artists have gone through and can relate to.
He reminds me of myself, I'm an artist, we have a similar name, same birthday (Dec 22), same heritage(Haitian) & similar personality. I knew of him but only recently I just randomly started digging looking into who he is and I'm seeing so much similarities..
Wow very interesting facts and what a beautiful woman you are. I'm very sad Jean Michel died at such a young age. He is one of my favorite artist. He is truly a brilliant Artist.
Long ago I was a substance abuse counselor in Harlem and met many heroin addicts that had been Jazz musicians and a few who had great artistic skills. What I discovered is that most developed their artistic skills as a means to make sense of their chaotic lives and sadly upon getting hooked they lost the drive to make. Art histiry makes mre noise about the mad artist and the insane artist and the addicted artist when in fact the vast majority of great art where long haulers who work and work at the craft cultivating their genius. Anyways I have known two artist in my life that did not resort to drugs. One was named Juan Gonzales (he was a realist painter of note until he died of AIDS. The other was a great poet and journalist named Gaston Baquero. Both had an open mind to the mystical nature that people will call a muse but I understand to be our inner drive to make something real out of the nothingness of truth and beauty that is in each and every human being. Drugs kills all that. Every religion started with some form of trance or magic mushroom juice that wipes out the artistic instinct and replaces it with numbness. Warhol took speed and the equivilant of MDMA and in the end it wiped out most of the potential he had for a good life. Basquait had so many demons that only heroin could numb the torment. Picasso whether it was survivors guilt or the horror that finding someone hung or a close friend blow his head off over a lover's tryst numbed his soul and in the end made him the asshole he was to almost all the women in his life. Art enobles and whether it is alcohol or drugs in the end you just get lies and ugliness that is a hack and nothing more. Think about the line of Picasso saying GREAT ARTIST STEAL. He is admitting he is a thief and a hack. All great artist make it new or invent something new altogether. Watching you expose yourself with the kinetic drawings reminded me of Karen Finley when she smeared herself with chocolate provoking misogynistic males in the audience. There was truth and beauty and an female anger that was real. Yours is less angry and as triuthful and beautiful. The yoga is also something that is more than just modern dance moves had me thinking of YABYUM. Anyways I will soon send a message via your web page and then perhaps I can share with you what I have 'invented' that may be of use. It is free and no I am not selling anything. If anything I am now simply creating for the mandala of it all. Nothing better in art than killing the buddha by demonetizing art better than Andy and Damien Hirst have monetized Vitrines and silk screened bananas that never seem to ripen to old age. I always wonder why folks are nt aware that Andy was such a creepoid he was willing to film his 'muse' overdosing on heroin. That ain't art that is just depraved indifference to life born inside the unrelenting nightmare of a speed freak attending morning mass in a place that hates the very sexuality you were born to be. I always wondered if he was abused by a priest when he was young and became the fake he was. But I digress. I hope the above has entertained you as you have had me recall more art history than I care to remember. If you are into realist painter do look up Juan Gonzalez or better if you like poetry in Spanish there is poem by my mentor and friend Gaston Baquero called MEMORIAL OF A WITNESS. It teaches the reader how to make GREAT WORKS OF ART. Just think it is all free.
You may never read this but, the same energy that calls artists to art calls them to drugs. I also know a couple of artists who only smoke weed and drink alcohol. But by and large being an artist means you are VERY SENSITIVE to the environment and to what you go through. Hence the need to work with those feelings into images and 3D creations. The obsessive ones (which is a different kind of energy) are the productive ones whose names we know. There is no way to separate likelihood of substance abuse from artistic inclinations in most artist humans. Again, because the root is the same: transcending dimensions and extreme sensibility. Drugs and art come from the same energetic root. Also spirituality is there. It’s hard to be an artist. So sensitive all the time. And life is hard. Fame sucks. So does struggling for a meal ticket. It’s possible that in the past, when life was simpler and you trained with masters as a lifestyle choice, it’s possible that you could escape substance abuse. But now, with the way life is, the only “artists” who can escape that are those posing as artists. Young people who can see the formula and are looking to replicate it. They of course are not artists, hence why Art Basel Miami for example is mostly vacuous and uninspiring. They won’t be using heroin 🥹
@@Alpha-AndromedaAgreed about the sensitivity leading to being drawn to (ha!) both artistic expression and drug use. There may even be shared neurotransmitter underpinnings.
Interesting facts. As you said, if it wasn’t for his heroine addiction, perhaps he would had been a super star. They dye to succeed and when they get to the top, they spoil it. How come that person on the last night did not call 911 on drug abuse. It was nothing rare in the 80s! Anyway, I love his art.
What if he'd already had it in his mind to commit suicide from the start? He just didn't want to hurt anyone until he realized that him just "living" was hurting people and then thought that suicide would stop the pain he was causing on everyone. People can be ignorant... he was using heroin for this long, hmmm I wonder if he had a physical underlying health issue? Did his friends bother to ask or figure it out?
So many doors opened up. I've watched many people just give up on life. I also see a lot of people doing what ever they want. It's a choice. They know it's going to harm them, but there is no one to blame. They just do what they love.
I was about the same as him and spent some time in New York after his death and after following his career and reading about him I have a suspicion that flavor Flav who went to high school with him probably sold him a little heroin. As years passed and actors and artist die the true stories pop up and come out .Flavor Flav hasn’t said anything yet but we know he’s in that game and we know he went to high school with him
If it hadn’t been Flavor Flav it would have been someone else. It’s Basquiat who took it. That’s who the finger points to. Or are you saying you’ve never refused to take something someone was offering? Of course you have. And so should have Basquiat. Flavor Flav was just doing his thing. Don’t be so naïve to think that if flavor Flav hadn’t offered it to him, that Basquiat would be miraculously alive and well… those who don’t want to destroy themselves don’t touch heroin.
You're full of it. Opiates never helped anybody produce art. From the early 1800's when Coleridge was experimenting with laudanum, he found that his work was better without it. Stop promoting this.
All the critics love you in New York You can dance if you want to All the critics love you in New York You can dance if you want to All the critics love you in New York All the critics love you All the critics love you All the critics love you in New York It's time for a new direction It's time for SAMO to die Fourth day of November We need a Dichotomy Don't give up, I'll still love you All the critics love you in New York All the critics love you in New York All the critics love you All the critics love you All the critics love you in New York introspection don't want to quit, Basquiat got to get another hit introspection don't want to quit, Basquiat got to get another hit introspection don't want to quit, Basquiat got to get another hit introspection don't want to quit, Basquiat got to get another hit Ooh-hoo, yeah, yeah All the critics love you All the critics love you All the critics love you in New York Whattaya looking at, punk? Look out, all you Artist, you ain't as sharp as me It ain't about the tripping, but the Social commentary turn it up You can dance if you want to All the critics love you in New York All the critics love you in New York Yes, we're certain of it, he's definitely Free basing Woo! All the critics love you in New York Take a bath, Al Diaz [Chorus] All the critics love you in New York All the critics love you in New York All the critics love you in New York All the critics love you in New York In New York New York New York New York New York.
I have known many artists who believed using such mind altering drugs would assist them, in ill defined, magical way, to become great and recognised for their "Undisputed genius." Those who didn't die long ago don't produce art because their brain is so deconstructed as to leave no creativity behind.
Ah mate you made a whole video about him, and you didn't even say during your last livestream (unless I missed it). I was still thinking about the skull painting yesterday, and am happy to find this in my feed today. Thank you, this is very informative.
I loved the movie. The only thing that I could remember I didn't like was Andy Warhol's character. David Bowie could be a great singer and a well read individual, he sounds like a smart person when he talks but in this film he made a spectacle of himself, overdoing, exaggerating Warhol's gay mannerisms. Looks more like a cartoonish parody than a serious characterization of a person considered a great artist.
I lived there in the seventies. It was rough for sure, but there was a great lovely quality to it. Definitely would have been easier had I not been strung out. I didn’t feel he was someone to watch, but rather as another struggler like us.
Appreciate your insights. He is one of my favorite artists. I saw one of his shows in New York featuring 150 of his paintings. Only one word - stunning! I dont think most people appreciate the scale of his works. Besides that, I wonder how much we under appreciate mental illness in the art world and what kinds of services are available to artists who may be struggling. Thank you...
This woman in this video is beautiful, one of the prettiest women I ever seen, well spoken with a smooth blended skin color, she know it too...go see Jean Micheal movie ''basquiat''
Right, he did do a variety of drugs while doing art and not while doing art so I think that means any of them including things like alcohol and caffeine, would have had an influence to some degree. But which drug has MORE of an influence? Who is to say? I chose to look into heroin because it was the substance that ultimately killed him.
@@arthistorystorytime Madonna says she left JMB cause of his heroin habit and that was in 1983; ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-LLHdvYnG5-E.html ... (lots of musical artists use crack to write music) ... my experience with artists is they smoke coke when directly creating.
Hey just found this channel and I love it. I'm fascinated by your art under the influence series - it helps me convince myself I'm doing the right thing by drinking too much caffeine :) Could you do one about amphetamines? Think Warhol was a big fan of them
Awesome, thank you! I’d recommend you watch the caffeine video from The Institute Human Anatomy. Love that channel! Funny you should ask, I actually have a partially researched/written one on Warhol’s drug use.
Thank you so much for your analysis of Jean-Michel Basquiat's life and work. I'm enjoying this very much. In addition to your wealth of knowledge, your informal style of delivery makes this Storytime feel like a relaxing conversation over a cup of coffee, making anyone, me included, wanting to converse with you a little more about art. Thanks again for heightening my interest in Basquiat with your video. I wish you much success with your RU-vid journey! #muchappreciated
Thank you for the feedback. Casual convo over coffee is exactly the vibe I'd like to have when it comes to these because that's what comes easiest to me. Glad you enjoyed!
Bogousness can mock heroin hipsters in turn. Karma is wicked that way. Basquait may have had a shot at being a great artist but instead he is just another commodity being traded by tax cheats and money launderers who made art more about money than truth and beauty. Your take on art beats most art historians and critics who tend to whitewash the debased depraved nature of suicidal assholes like Andy Warhole (he wanted to film Eddie Sidgewick OD) and Basquait who numbed his muse with heroin and self loathing. In time history will forget these two and maybe just maybe drugs and alcohol will no longer be attributed as stimulants of the artistic imagination but recognized as destroyers of great talents.
I think drugs are often given way too much credit as being creative stimulants when they really tend to be more of a distraction, a form of procrastination.
Sure ...you can be more productive without drugs. Isn't that the most important thing? Being productive... Look at you...judging artists for their substance abuse and acting as if they could have made it big without while they already made it big. I don't get how people can be so hung up in this life. Are you serious? This world is shit and there us absolutely ni reason ti not take drugs while making Art. Who would choose voluntarily to stick around this s...hole die 90+ years. What is wrong with you?!
...i get it now. People like you must be really happy to be alive. Are you? Enjoying life to the fullest...huh...because it's all so nice and smells like Flowers....
Jean Michelle Basketcase. Robert Hughes was correct in his criticism of this "Wild Child" persona and Soho 80's graffiti art scene. Basically, Basketcase was on a highway to hell. To bad. Perhaps even Basketcase himself knew he was just the latest art fraud in those pathetic times.
In my opinion, I think he was overrated. I respect his story on how he came up but for me, his art lacked technique. Feels like his art work was done by a 3 year old . Just saying
A totally valid opinion! I feel you on that. But you might be interested in a video by the Art Assignment called ‘The definition of art’ which brings up some interesting points about what does art need to have to be considered art and who gets to decide that it’s art. Worth a watch! 😊 Cheers!
He sounds like an immature ,undisciplined, unappreciative brat. His representatives were getting him thousands and thousands of dollars and international recognition. A young artists dream. If his own family put him out then there’s more to this story. His behavior was tolerated because he was an artist whose charming street style was admired and desirable. So much more hype developed afterward because he died so young. I don’t know why our culture glorifies addicts. He wasn’t a genius. He didn’t create masterpieces. He was a young artist with a style that could be marketed.
His artworks sells for 100-200 million dollars. And his artwork are designs on all kinds of cloths. It`s you who get the world wrong. The world don`t care about your hard work and discipline if what you create only has value to you ( that don`t meen it`s worthless, but then again. It only has value in your mind) . Having good ideas and discipline don`t matter if you are not able to sell your ideas in the real world. That is your ability to influence people on a deep level. That is the difference of him and you. Even if as you say he might have been a immature, undisciplined, unappreciative brat. The world desperatly needs color and creativity. Not just another envious narcissist, who can`t understand people.
Art is subjective so all your feeble attempts to devalue his worth is pointless. The man is obviously a neoexpression genius or his art wouldn’t have translated so well over time and across generations. Also you’re obviously blurred and over-consumed by your hate of Basquiat because if you actually studied the work you would have more to offer than the old tired "he was young, his representatives getting him recognition blah,blah.." critique. As an artist his social cues, commentary combined with the explosion of signs,symbols,poetry in his work was pure unhinged genius. But I’ll leave his own words here. "I don’t know who needs an art critic to understand art" ..
