ABSTRACT
This chapter explores Jean-Michel Basquiat’s graffiti and graffiti-infused art. It focuses on Basquiat’s struggle being a black youth in a racist art world and discusses the many contradictions and complexities of Basquiat, the man. Music was a big part of Jean-Michel’s life; in fact, he was in a band. Music, like graffiti, can serve political purposes. In the film Basquiat it is clear that director Julian Schnabel (1996) wants the audience to know how much Basquiat struggled as a black youth in racist America. Racism in America is alive and well today. In America today, we have a very under-educated public. Standardized curricula and standardized testing have made American citizens stupid. The problem in this country today is larger than the election of a dictator-like president. Cedar Lewisohn states by 1983, Basquiat had achieved his goal, and was one of the most sought after art commodities on the planet, surrounded by a string of sometimes contradictory mythologies.
