After leaving his family at a very young age, he led a bohemian life, doing odd jobs, and producing his first pieces.
His meeting with an important representative of street art, Al Diaz, was to lead him to this style. He and Diaz went on to create a collective called "SAMO" (same old shit), which allowed Jean-Michel Basquiat to acquire a certain reputation while still young.
The other key meeting which was to provide direction for the work and career of Jean-Michel Basquiat was with Andy Warhol, guru of the New York underground. Because of his reputation and network, Warhol was to help him exhibit his work in the city's leading galleries.
The young Basquiat was to make a name for himself in the New York jet set. However, he experienced difficulty in managing this fame and the money: he sank into drugs and despite rehab on many occasions, was to eventually die from an overdose at the age of 27. There are two main aspects to the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat.
First, his work on the human anatomy, which he masters perfectly.
Second,, his activism for black people often meant that he represented the oppression suffered by this population.
The use of words in capitals in his paintings was to reinforce the dark and chaotic side that characterized them.
Basquiat's work was prolific, comprising over 800 paintings. His most famous works are strongly influenced by his quest for identity for black people.
We can cite "Irony of a Negro policeman", 1981, Slave Auction 1982.
For his work derived from his studies of human anatomy: numerous representations of the human skull. Jean-Michel Basquiat remains very topical today: his paintings continue to animate the art market and reach records figures at auction.