Jean-Michel Basquiat is a painter and draftsman born in 1960 in New York. Pop art but also his beginnings as a street-artist influenced him in his painting and drawings combining neo-expressionism and primitivism.

Basquiat shows his convictions in his works. He often denounces the oppression and racism suffered by the African-American community. In the painting Slave Auction dating from 1982, he represents society by highlighting the outsiders. In the painting The Death of Micheal Stewart, he fights against police violence by paying homage to Micheal Stewart, an African-American shot by the New York police. He also shows these ideas by explicitly depicting violence: in A Panel of Experts in 1982, he shows the shape of the gun and the bloody characters fighting.

Basquiat also often depicts the anatomy of his characters, as in the 1982 painting Dusthead. This is a theme he has been studying since his car accident at the age of seven.

In addition, Basquiat has worked several times with Andy Warhol. The works resulting from this collaboration are original because of their different styles. For example, Felix the cat is a painting that combines Warhol's pop art, including his representation of the cat, and neo-impressionism with the primitive head in the middle of the canvas.

Jean-Michel Basquiat is one of America's most beloved artists. His canvases can be bought for thousands to millions of euros. In 2017, his work sold at a record price: Sotheby's sold it for 89 million euros.
Article written by S.C.

Sources: Wikipedia - Fine Arts - Artprice - Kazoart - Guggenheim

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