by Shiona Herbert
American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat has inspired thousands if not millions of creatives around the world with his art. At first glance, his paintings look like simple compositions of shapes, lines and words, but upon extended viewing, these artworks convey complex layers of thought and emotion.
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Basquiat grew up in household that valued culture and creativity. His Puerto Rican mother was a graphic design artist who encouraged her son to draw and inspired his artistic interest with regular trips to art museums. Basquiat’s Haitian father was an avid music fan who spent a lot of time listening to music with him.
The art practice that first got Basquiat noticed however, were passages of graffiti sprayed around Brooklyn under the alter-ego SAMO. These spray painted texts made comment on social and political issues of the day. Basquiat also made homemade postcards and t-shirts that he sold to friends and those who liked his art. This soon led to large scale paintings that caught the eye of art critics and dealers.
Basquiat’s first solo exhibition was held in Italy in 1981.Soon after, his style of art neo expressionism became renowned in the art world with people paying attention to how he painted abstract portraits in bright, bold colors that expressed his feelings about the subject matter rather than offering an accurate likeness of them.
“I like kids’ work more than work by real artists any day.”
After creating a large collection of work, it soon became apparent there were particular icons occurring time and time again in Basquiat’s art including skulls, body parts, crowns, and bats!
Skull – skulls, bones and other body parts feature heavily in Basquiat’s art. This was influenced by a period of time during his childhood when he studied and drew images from the book: Gray’s Anatomy, a gift from his mother while he was recovering from being hit by a car.
Basquiat’s representation of a skull in his painting: Untitled, 1983 - broke art auction records by becoming the most expensive painting ever purchased. In May 2017, it sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby's, the highest price ever paid at auction for work by an American artist.*
Crown – Basquiat was greatly inspired by the accomplishments of successful African American’s including sports stars, musicians and writers. In Basquiat’s eyes these idols were ‘Kings’ and therefore treated with a likeness of a crown in his paintings to highlight their important status.
Dinosaur with a crown – Tyrannosaurus rex, whose name means ‘king of the tyrant lizards,’ relates directly to the sense of the majesty of this creature. Basquiat’s dinosaur painting (Untitled, 1982) is one of his most recognized works of art.
Bats – a homage to Basquiat’s love of comic book characters and cartoons which he drew as a child.
“I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young... ”
Now It’s Your Turn!
To honor Basquiat’s iconography, we’ve got a great little Draw Like Basquiat booklet to download for young artists to practice drawing in the distinctive Basquiat style.
Instructions
Sign up to Art History Kids email list to receive access to the free Learning Library
Download the Basquiat PDF in the Learning Library
Print it
Gather all the pages together and cut them in half to create two small booklets
Staple the pages of each booklet together
Grab your favorite pencil and start drawing!
Color in the background of your drawings with big, rough, blocks of color in the style of Basquiat. (Oil pastels work really well for this.)
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If your young artists really connect with the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, try more of the activities below:
Create a free Basquiat Calendar using the online Photofunia platform or create your own digital Basquiat Street Art. (See example below).
Design a stamp that honors Basquiat’s contribution to art. (This article will help get you started!)
Listen to music by the band Gray that Basquiat was part of in the early 80s.
Read a book about Basquiat’s life or one that features his art. We suggest ‘Life Doesn’t Frighten Me’ – a delightful book that combines the poetry of Maya Angelou with the paintings of Basquiat. (Join the Art History Kids Learning Library for a free literacy guide and rhyming word grid to accompany this book.) Early childhood artists will enjoy reading The Life of Basquiat/La Vida De Basquiat.
Find out the dimensions of your favorite Basquiat work of art and measure it out on the ground using chalk. (See the image further down for an example made by a young art student.)
* Source:https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39971348
