Jean Michel Basquiat
...a Puerto Rican mother, and a Haitian father. His mother had an interest in Fashion Design. At 17 years old, He rejected the materialistic trappings of growing up in a middle class atmosphere, and disguised himself as a poor street person. He ran away from home several times, after his parents divorced. He dropped out of high school for gifted children in order to become an artist. When Jean Michel was 8 years old, he got hit by a car and had his spleen removed. At the hospital, his mother brought him Gray's Anatomy to read. He claimed that reading this book was one of the most important events of his life. He was first a participant to the Art scene when he became a Graffiti Artist. He signed the Graffiti with his name Samo (same old shit) who makes a living selling a fake religion. He primarily did this in the area of Soho in New York city, and on his regular subway route. We see Graffiti related signs and symbols and carefully chosen words in French, German and Italian. His career in Graffiti is where he first made a mark for himself. In his earlier career, from 1980-1982 he used gestures that mostly depicted skeletal figures and mask-like faces that show his obsession with mortality. Some of his imagery was derived from street life, such as automobiles, buildings, police cars, children's sidewalk games and graffiti. The middle period, which was late 1982-1985 feature multi-panel and canvas paintings with exposed stretcher bars, the surfaces dence with writing, collage, and unrelated imagery. These works reveal a strong interest in his black and Hispanic identity and historical events that occurred. The last phase, from 1986 to his death in 1988 displayes a new type of figurative imagery with new painting styles, different symbols, and content. Basquiat seems to have wanted to venture into new territory and stray from what had become to familiar. One of his most notorious paintings is “Arroz Con Pollo.” On the canvas,he and his girlfriend Suzanne are depicted as skeletons. Jean Michel holds his favorite dish (Arroz Con Pollo) in one hand. He claimed that his mother taught him how to make it and that it was the only thing he knew how to cook. Suzanne (his girlfriend) is painted white and holds her fork in one hand and her breast in the other hand. Across the table Jean Michel wears a red Mexican hat and offeres Suzanne the dish. In the painting of the two lovers, we see the inside of their bodies. We see Suzanne's teeth and vagina. We see Jean Michel's ribs and shoulder joints. Basquiat looked to the language of modern art for technical means and painting styles that could accommodate his message. The first of three influences was his mother. He often paid tribute to his Puerto Rican mother, Matilde, by representing his feelings toward her through her Spanish language, which he spoke fluently, on his c...