top of page

Jean-Michel Basquiat

장-미쉘 바스키아(1060~1988)

Information

  Jean-Michel Basquiat was an influential African-American artist who rose to success during the 1980s. Basquiat’s paintings are largely responsible for elevating graffiti artists into the realm of the New York gallery scene., his spray-painted crowns and scribbled words, referenced everything from his Haitian and Puerto Rican heritage, to political issues, pop-culture icons, and Biblical verse. The gestural marks and expressive nature of his work not only aligned him with the street art of Keith Haring and Kenny Scharf, but also the Neo-Expressionists Julian Schnabel and David Salle. “If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you've got to realize that influence is not influence,” he said of his process. “It's simply someone's idea going through my new mind.” Born on December 22, 1960 in Brooklyn, NY, Basquiat never finished high school but developed an appreciation for art as a youth, from his many visits to the Brooklyn Museum of Art with his mother. His early work consisted of spray painting buildings and trains in downtown New York alongside his friend Al Diaz. The artist’s tag was the now infamous pseudonym SAMO. After quickly rising to fame in the early 1980s, Basquiat was befriended by many celebrities and artists, including Andy Warhol, with whom he made several collaborative works. At only 27, his troubles with fame and drug addiction led to his tragic death from an overdose on August 12, 1988 in New York, NY. The Whitney Museum of American Art held the artist’s first retrospective from October 1992 to February 1993. In 2017, after having set Basquiat’s auction record the previous year with a $57.3 million purchase, the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa surpassed it, buying the artist’s Untitled (1982) at Sotheby's for $110.5 million. This set a new record for the highest price ever paid at auction for an American artist's work. Today, Basquiat's works are held in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Rubell Family Collection in Miami, and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, among others.

  쟝-미셀 바스키아는 1980년대에 떠오른 아이티/푸에르토리코 계 미국인 예술가이다. 바스키아의 작품은 흔히 그래피티를 예술의 영역으로 승화시켰다는 평을 듣는데, 그의 등장 이후로 뉴욕 화랑들에서도 그래피티를 예술로서 취급하기 시작하였다. 스프레이로 칠해진 왕관이나 휘갈겨 쓴 단어들은 그의 아이티와 푸에르토리코 문화뿐만 아니라 정치적, 대중문화적 그리고 심지어 성경의 구절까지 다루고 인용한다. 역동적이고 표현적인 그의 작품들은 그를 키스 해링이나 케니 샤프 같은 거리 예술가들과 줄리안 슈나벨, 데이비드 살레 같은 신 표현주의자들과 동시에 연관지어지게 만든다. “영향을 받고 싶다면 ‘영향’ 이라는 개념이 존재하지 않는다는 걸 먼저 깨달아야 해요”, 바스키아는 그의 작업에 대해서 이렇게 말한다. “’영향’ 이라는 거는 단지 다른 사람의 사유가 제 새로운 정신을 지나가는 과정일 뿐이에요”. 1960년 12월 22일 뉴욕 브루클린에서 태어난 바스키아는 고등학교는 마치지 못했으나, 어린 나이부터 어머니와 함께 뉴욕의 브루클린 예술 박물관에 다니며 예술에 대한 감상을 키웠다. 그의 초기작들은 그의 친구 알 디아즈와 함께 뉴욕 시내의 건물과 지하철에 스프레이 페인팅을 하는 것이었다. 그의 태그는 이제는 악명 높은 예명 SAMO이다. 1980년 초기에 일약 스타가 되어버린 바스키아는 앤디 워홀 같은 유명인사들과 예술가들과 친분을 가지게 되는데, 그 중에서도 앤디 워홀과는 함께 작업하기도 했다. 27살의 어린 나이에 큰 명성을 가지게 된 그는 그걸 제대로 다루지 못함과 동시에 마약에 중독되며 88년 8월 12일에 뉴욕에서 마약 과다복용으로 비극적인 죽음을 맞이하게 된다. 휘트니 미국예술박물관에서는 작가의 첫 회고록을 1992년 10월부터 1993년 2월에 걸쳐 열기도 한다. 2017년에는 바스키아의 2016년 경매 기록인 5730만 달러를 넘어선 1억 1050만 달러라는 높은 가격에 소더비 경매에서 “무제” (1982)가 일본인 억만장자 유나카 마에자와에게 팔리기도 하였다. 이는 미국인 예술가의 경매 판매 금엑으로서도 최고가의 기록을 세웠다. 오늘날 바스키아의 작품들은 뉴욕의 현대미술박물관, 마이애미의 루벨 패밀리 콜렉션, 그리고 로스 앤젤레스의 현대예술박물관 등에 소장되어있다.

Profile

Timeline

1960

Born in Brooklyn, NY

1966

Became a Junior Member of the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY

1977

Began spray painting cryptic aphorisms on subway trains and around lower Manhattan and signing them with the name SAMO© (Same Old Shit)

1978

Left home permanently and quit school just one year before graduating form high school

1983

Befriended by Andy Warhol

1988

Died in New York, NY

Exhibitions

2013

Print - Woodward Gallery, New York City, NY 
Jean-Michel Basquiat - Kukje Gallery, Seoul 
Jean-Michel Basquiat - Gagosian Gallery, New York City, NY 
Le Pont - MAC Musées d´Art Contemporain Marseille, Marseille 
Don't Be Shy, Don't Hold Back - The Logan Collection At Sfmoma - San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA 
sous influences - arts plastiques et psychotropes - La Maison Rouge, Paris

2012

30 Americans - Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA 
This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980s - ICA - Institute of Contemporary ArtBoston, Boston, MA 
Blues For Smoke - The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA 
Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years - The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, NY 
In Extremis - Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA 
Self-portrait - Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk 
Narren. Künstler. Heilige - Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn 
Keith Haring in Knokke - Samuel Vanhoegaerden Gallery, Knokke-Heist 
Summer Selections - Woodward Gallery, New York City, NY 
Les chefs-doeuvre de la donation Yvon Lambert - Collection Lambert, Avignon 
This Will Have Been: Art, Love & Politics in the 1980 - Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN 
Jean-Michel Basquiat / Andy Warhol - Gagosian Gallery, London (England) 
Caribbean: Crossroads Of The World - Queens Museum of Art (QMA), New York City, NY 
From Pop Art To Yba - The Columns, Seoul 
Same Same But Different - Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich 
Picasso / Basquiat - Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York City, NY
Micro Mania - Gagosian Gallery, Paris 
Bye Bye American Pie - MALBA Colección Costantini - Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires 
Spring (2012) - IKON Ltd, Santa Monica, CA 
Salon du dessin 2012 - Galerie de France, Paris 
Martin Visser: collector, designer, free spirit - Bonnefantenmuseum, Maastricht 
God Save the Queen: Punk in the Netherlands 1977-1984 - Centraal Museum, Utrecht 
Brucennial 2012 - Harder. Betterer. Fasterer. Strongerer - Brucennial, New York City, NY 
Meneer Delta - Museum Boijmans van Beuningen, Rotterdam 
Ménage à trois - Kunst- und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, Bonn 
20th Century Pop Art Masters - Galerie Gmurzynska - Zürich, Zurich 
Theatre Of The World - Mona - Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, TAS

2011

Jean Michel Basquiat - Gallery Tagboat , Tokyo 
Jean-Michel Basquiat and the Rat pack - BURKHARD EIKELMANN GALERIE, Dusseldorf 
Portraits : Cabinet De CuriositÉs - Galerie Sébastien Bertrand, Geneva 
Arts for a Better World - Taglialatella Galleries, New York, New York City, NY 
30 Americans - The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC 
Italia - america - Agnellini Arte Moderna, Brescia 
Warhol & Basquiat - ARKEN Museum for Moderne Kunst, Ishoj 
Summer Show - Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York City, NY 
Slice of Summer - IKON Ltd, Santa Monica, CA 
Made in Italy - Gagosian Gallery, Rome 
GRAFFITI - NEW YORK 80´s - Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris
Untagged (the white wall show) - IKON Ltd, Santa Monica, CA 
Art in the Streets - The Geffen Contemporary at MOCA, Los Angeles, CA 
Un corps inattendu - FRAC - Auvergne, Clermont Ferrand 
Salon du Dessin 2011 - Galerie de France, Paris 
30 Americans - North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, NC 
Hyper Real – Kunst und Amerika um 1970 - Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst, Aachen 
The 80s Revisited. Sammlung Bischofberger II - Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Bielefeld 
ALREADY-MADE ? - Galerie Jérôme de Noirmont, Paris

2010

Basquiat/Warhol , Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, ME
Afro Modern: Journeys through the Black Atlantic, Tate Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

2009

A Tribute To Ron Warren, Mary Boone Gallery, New York City, NY
Your Gold Teeth III, Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York, NY
Sans—titre # 1 oeuvres de la Collection Lambert peintures des années 1970 - 1980, Collection Lambert, Avignon, France
Looking at Music: Side 2, MoMA - Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY

2008

Jean-Michel Basquiat works on paper, Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York, NY (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat. Ahuyentando fantasmas, Fundación Marcelino Botín, Santander, Spain (solo)

2007

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Galleria Davide Di Maggio, Berlin, Germany (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat : Works on Paper , Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York, NY (solo)
Basquiat in Cotonou, Fondation Zinsou, Cotonou, Benin (solo)

2006

Basquiat heads, Van de Weghe Fine Art, New York, NY (solo)
Basquiat 1960-1988 - Basquiat Retrospective, Shanghai Duolun Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai, China (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Museo d´Arte Moderna, Lugano, Switzerland (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1981: The Studio of the Street, Deitch Projects - 76, Grand Street, New York, NY (solo)
Basquiat - una antología para Puerto Rico, Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, Santurce, Puerto Rico (solo)

2005

Jean Michel Basquiat, Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland (solo)
Jean Michel Basquiat, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, CA (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, The Museum of Fine Art, Houston, TX (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat - In Word Only, Cheim & Read, New York, NY (solo)

2004

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Museo del Palacio de Bellas Artes, Mexico City, Mexico (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat: An Intimate Portrait - Susquehanna Art Museum, Harrisburg, PA (solo)

2003

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Histoire d’une œuvre, Fondation Dina Vierny, Musée Maillol, Paris, France (solo)

2002

Paintings by Jean-Michael Basquiat, Hamiltons Gallery, Londres, UK (solo)
Marcel Sitcoske Gallery, San Francisco, CA (solo)

2001

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Museum Würth, Künzelsau, Germany (solo)

2000

Jean-Michel Basquiat, MITTERRAND+CRAMER/FINE ART, Geneva, Switzerland (solo)

1999

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gemälde und Zeichnungen, Stadtgalerie Klagenfurt, Austria (solo)
Marcel Sitcoske Gallery, San Francisco, CA (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Paintings & Works on Paper, Kunsthaus Wien, Vienna, Austria (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Civico Museo Revoltella, Trieste, Italy (solo)
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Jean Michel Basquiat , Galleria Davide Di Maggio - Milano, Milan, Italy (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Basquiat a Venezia, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Venice, Italy (solo)

1998

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Obras sobre Papel, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Pinturas/Obras sobre papeis, Pinacoteca, Sao Paulo, Brazil (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA (solo)
Museu de Arte Moderna, Recife, Brazil
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Pinacoteca, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Jean-Michel Basquiat - Temoignage 1977-1988, Galerie Jerome de Noirmont, Paris, France (solo)

1997

Art Beatus, Vancouver, Canada
Big Step, Inc. Osaka, Japan
Mitsukochi Museum, Tokyo; MIMOCA, Marugame, Japan
Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Kaohsiung Museum of Fine Arts, Kaohsiung, Taiwan; Taiwan Museum of Art, Taiwan
Fondation Dina-Vierny, Musée Maillol, Paris, France
Gallery Hyundai, Seoul, Korea
Parco Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1996

Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY; Serpentine Gallery, London, UK
Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Galeria Luisa Strina, São Paulo, Brazil (solo)
Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Blue Ribbon Paintings, Museum of Contemporary Art - North Miami (MOCA), Miami, FL (solo)
Two Cents, Ben Maltz Gallery at Otis College of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA (solo)
Two Cents, Castellani Art Museum, Lewiston, NY (solo)
Contemporary Art Series #7: Jean-Michel Basquiat - Krannert Art Museum, Champaign, IL (solo)
Galeries Lucien Durand-Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
Junta de Andalucia, Malaga, Spain
The Bruce Museum, Greenwich, UK
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Quintana Gallery, Coral Gables, FL

1995

Center Gallery, Miami-Dade Community College, Mimami, FL; Castellani Art Museum, Niagara Univerity, New York, NY; The University of Memphis, Memphis, TN; University of South Florida Art Museum, Tampa, FL; Otis Gallery of Art and Design, Los Angeles, CA; Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX

1994

Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY
Mount Holyoke College of Art Museum, South Hadley, MA; Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, CT; The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburg, PA; The studio Museum in Harlem, New York, NY; Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL; COCA/Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL

1993

Newport Harbour Art Museum, Newport Beach, CA
FAE, Musee d’Art Contemporain, Pully-Lausanne, France
Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Musee Galerie de la Seita, Paris, France
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, CA (solo)
Delta Gallery, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Alpha Cubic Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Galerie Sho Contemporary Art, Tokyo, Japan
Galerie Bruno Bischhofberger, Zurich, Switzerland

1992

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Menil Collection, Houston, TX
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Montgomery Museum of Fine Art, Montgomery, AL
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Eric van de Wegh, Brussels, Belgium
Musee Cantini, Marseille, France

1991

P.S.Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Galerie de Poche, Paris, France

1990

Gallery le Gall Peyroulet, Paris, France
Galerie Fabien Boulakia, Paris, France
Robert Miller Gallery, New York, NY

1989

Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Enrico Navarra, Paris, France
Dau al Set, Galeria d’Art, Barcelona, Spain
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria

1988

Galerie Michael Haas, Berlin, Germany
Vrej Baghoomian Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Gallery Schlesinger Limited, New York, NY
Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris, France
Galerie Beaubourg, Paris, France

1987

Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris, France (solo)
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Drawings, Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
P.S.Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1986

Larry Gagosian, Los Angeles, CA
Fay Gold Gallery, Atlanta, GA
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Galerie Thaddaeus Ropac, Salzburg, Austria
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Nagoya, Japan
Centre Culturel Francais d’Abidjan, Abidjan, Ivory Coast
Galerie Delta, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany
Galerie Michael Werner, Cologne, Germany

1985

Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Jean Michel Basquiat / MATRIX 80, Berkeley Art Museum, Berkley, CA; Pacific Film Archive BAM/PFA, Berkeley, CA (solo)

1984

Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY (solo)
The Fruitmaker Gallery, Edinburgh, Scotland
ICA, London, UK
Museum Boymans-van Beuningen, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Carpenter + Hochman gallery, Dallas, TX
New Expressionists, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY
Paintings and Sculpture Today, Indianapolis Musuem of Art, Indianapolis, IN
American Neo-Expressionists, Aldrich Museum, Ridgefield, CT
New Art, Musee D’Art Contemporain, Montreal, Canada

1983

New York Now, Kestner-Gesellschaft, Hannover, Germany; Kunstverein Munich, Munich, Germany; Musee Cantonal des Beaux-Arts, Lausanne, Switzerland; Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen, Dusseldorf, Germany
From the Streets, Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC
Post Graffiti, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY
Paintings, Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
Whitney Biennale, Whitney Museum, New York, NY
New Work, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY
Intoxication, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York, NY; Mary Boone Gallery, New York, NY
Back to the Usa, Kunstmuseum Luzern, Luzern, Switzerland; Rheinisches Landmuseum, Bonn, germany; Wurttembergischer Kunstverein, Stuttgart, Germany; Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY
Selected Works, Ulrike Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Mary Boone and her Artists, Seibu Museum, Tokyo
Written Imagery Unleashed in the Twentieth Century, Fine Arts Museum of Long Island, Hempstead, NY
Food for the Soup Kitchens, Fashion Moda, Bronx, NY
Contemporary Drawing, Delahunty Gallery, Dallas, TX
West Beach Café, Venice, CA
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Akira Ikeda Gallery, Tokyo, Japan

1982

Emilio Mazzoli Gallery, Modena, Italy
Mario Diacono Gallery, Rome, Italy
Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY
Blum/Helman Gallery, New York, NY
Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich, Switzerland
Fun Gallery, New York, NY
Galerie Delta, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
New New York, Florida State University Art Gallery, Tallahassee, FL; Metropolitan Museum and Art Centre, Coral Gables, FL
Body Language – Current Issues in Figuration, University Art Gallery, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA
Avantgarde and Transavantgarde ’68 to ’77’ Aurelian Walls, Rome, Italy
Five Americans, Museu Civico, Modena, Italy
Drawings/Vision: New York’, Janus Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Works on Paper, Larry Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Fast, Alexander F Milliken Gallery, New York, NY
Documneta 7, Kassel, West Germany
The Expressionist Image: From Pollock to Today, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY
The Pressure to Paint, Marlborough Gallery, New York, NY

1981

Annina Nosei Gallery, New York, NY
Emilio Mazzoli Gallery, Modena, Italy
New York, New Wave, Institute for Art and Urban Resources, P.S.1, Long Island City, NY

bottom of page