In the so-called 'memoir,' Mallouk is watching Basquiat, yes - and we see him grasp the nettle and release it because he cannot stand the pain, we see him die by his own hand in a battle he thought he could win. But what of Jean-Michel's lovers - the women and men who stood by his side, and were, because they loved him, forced to watch his self-destruction? We know his mother was in and out of mental institutions, that his father stabbed him and that he ran away from home when he was a teenager. We know Jean-Michel worked furiously, often high on heroin, in the basement of his dealer, Annina Nosei - who sometimes sold his paintings against his will, before he felt they were finished. We could take the material of our lives and make it scream.Īnd yet the intimate moments behind the larger-than-life figure of Jean-Michel are rarely spoken. His work telegraphed that our stories - our double consciousness, our ability to see the commodification of race and our reluctant, indignant, complicity in that commodification - could be transformed into a striking visual language, channeled into work both breathtaking and original, cryptic and painfully clear. His courage shaped us, showed us how to make art that challenged assumptions about high and low, rich and poor, black and white. In the circle of artists I feel fortunate to call friends and colleagues, Jean-Michel's name has been uttered a thousand times - he's our hero, inspiration and cautionary tale. Since his death in 1988, he has been immortalized in countless museum catalogues and even more Ph.D theses, and rendered larger than life on the silver screen by none other than the king of the eighties art world himself, Julian Schnabel. Much has been written about Jean-Michel Basquiat, the childlike savant and startlingly brilliant neo-expressionist who went down in a ball of heroin, cocaine and rage before his prime - before he could see his paintings sell at Christie's for $49 million, before he was compared to Picasso and de Kooning. Your purchase helps support NPR programming. Close overlay Buy Featured Book Title Widow Basquiat Author Jennifer Clement

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