Why Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Work is Timeless

Over time, art has depicted history, changes in the world, society, economy, and emotion, amongst other things. As art is subjective and personal to us, the thought crosses my mind: “How does an art piece withstand time and still be appreciated in current time?” Art over time has depicted landscapes, moments in history, personal moments in our lives, and parts of different cultures, to name a few. Culture displayed in art is one of the most powerful results. Art and culture co-exist and work hand in hand, both positively and negatively. Art is a product of culture and culture is a product of art. Here is a bit of history on Jean-Michel Basquiat, why he's one of my favorite artists and why I consider his art to be timeless.

Jean Michel Basquiat was born on December 22, 1960 in New York City. He is of Puerto Rican and Haitian descent and was heavily exposed to art since the beginning. At a young age, him and his mother would take weekly visits to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, who encourages education. Basquiat says his art came from his mother. At an early age, he drew inspiration from Alfred Hitchcock movies, comic books, cars and other things that surrounded his life. His art and his upbringing and his thought process with his art have translated to his later creations. Him and his friend Diaz create SAMO “Same Old Shit”, who is a character that makes a living selling fake religion. This becomes increasingly popular seen on many of the New York trains. In the later years, Basquiat had collaborated with Andy Warhol, which made him and his work rise to fame. Basquiat’s work consists of pieces that are very active, busy with lots of movement. Basquiat draws inspiration from the outside world: from consumerism to politics to blatantly poking fun at people, he always had a unique reaction and response.

I suggest that Basquiat’s art has been extremely successful and is considered “timeless” because of his input of his culture into his art as well as covering withstanding topics in his work. I believe he implements specific pieces of things that have no “end time” to his work that help his art withstand years and years to come.

Basquiat has used symbolism in his art that transfers and ties the artworks together. Descending from Haitian and Puerto Rican parents, he uses icons and images popularly seen through his heritage and media through his eyes. For example, crowns in his artworks had three points to represent his three lineages: the poet, the musician and the great boxing champion and are used to represent his heritage through pop culture and politics. Basquiat was also inspired by other cultures such as African, Aztec, Hispanic, Ancient Roman and Greek images, creating icons and graphic marks that represents the artistic process, saying that he “doesn’t think about art while creating, only life.” Because of his knowledge and integration of cultures within his work, Basquiat has created pieces that can be relatable and familiar to all.

Secondly, I believe Basquiat’s work is timeless and relatable for all is because of his hybridization within his art. With his work, we see that there is a message being said. Basquiat’s messages can vary by being political, history and art history, pop culture and the now. Along with this, his messages can also be linked to and are influenced by his culture and heritage. Another way Basquiat implements a great way of hybridization is through his mediums. Primarily, Basquiat creates large pieces using primarily acrylic paint but in quite a few works he mixes in his drawings using crayons, spray paint, pastel, wax and many more mediums. Lastly, I believe Basquiat’s work with hybridization is timeless because of his collaborations with other artists. One of his most famous collaborations was with Andy Warhol. The two had met through an art dealer they both knew and the two hit it off right away. In their pieces, they incorporate Warhol’s pop art with Basquiat’s signature input of pop culture and stroke work. Their pieces incorporate familiar and international logos of well known companies and organizations such as Paramount, General Electric and Nike to name a few. Because of the well known brand logos being added to the work, this makes the art pieces for all audiences and relatable.

Lastly, I believe Basquiat’s work is timeless because of its explosivity and how chaotic it is. We can see within his work that it is far from the “norm” that it is abstract and expressive but part of the postmodernism era. His figures and images used are very complex and can be, at times, misunderstood. Because Basquiat’s work is so deep in meaning and through his background, the messages can be interpreted differently. Had we not been educated about his past, heritage and influences, his messages would not have the same effect. His messages carry a deep message, speaking about fights and infliction within ourselves and within the world. His work often expresses how us as people have an ongoing battle with ourselves, regardless of our experiences, upbringing, etc. This message can translate to all as our own individual battles within ourselves are personal and unique to us.

In conclusion, Basquiat’s work is so relatable to all in so many different ways, the possibilities are endless. To me, I heavily relate to Basquiat and his implementation of culture and messages within his work. In my work, I am heavily influenced by my culture and my emotions and try to best display them and reach out to the viewers by using expressive mark making and a variety of colors. We can really appreciate Basquiat’s implementation of his own culture into his work because it gives us more insight on who he was, how his culture had a major impact on his upbringing and how art had taken over his life.