Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960–August 12, 1988) was an American artist of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent.

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1984)

Quotes

• I don’t think about art while I work…I try to think about life.
  • On his artistic process in “Jean-Michel Basquiat on How to Be an Artist” in Artsy (2019 Jun 6)

• Like an ape? A primate?...You said it, you said it.
  • On being asked whether his artwork was a form of primal expressionism in “How Jean-Michel Basquiat predicted our identity-obsessed digital age” in GQ (2017 Sep 20)

• I’m just an autodidact who would like to be part of the family of artists.
  • On eschewing typical forms of artistic training and learning directly from artists in “Debunking Basquiat’s Myths: Curator Eleanor Nairne on What We Get Wrong About the Misunderstood Artist” in artnetnews (2017 Sep 18)

• …I don't think it's good to be honest in interviews, I think it's better to lie.
  • On his regrets of revealing too much about his adolescence in “INTERVIEW Jean Michel Basquiat with Becky Johnston and Tamra Davis” (1986)

External links