Jean-Michel Basquiat U.S. painter
of Haitian and Puerto Rican parentage who first
started making graffiti with magic-markers on
walls of buildings together with a friend, which
they signed SAMO. B. also made drawings on
paper, painted on T shirts, sheet metal and other
found surfaces and made assemblages out of
junk. His work quickly became sought-after by
influential critics, collectors and artists. By the
early 1980s Basquiat's crayon-and-paint drawings on
unprimed canvas, with grimacing African mask-like faces and graffiti messages and texts, led to
his enormous success. He collaborated with
Warhol, who had befriended him, in paintings and exhibitions.
