Basquiat Drawings

Jean Michel Basquiat died in 1988 at the age of 27 after a decade spent in frantic pursuit of life and art. During his brief, but productive reign as "enfant terrible" and prodigious deity, Basquiat impacted contemporary art with an unsettling mixture of artistic resources and a personal mastery of the social nuances of his era. Collaborator with other artists such as Andy Warhol and Francesco Clemente and an influence on their work, Basquiat remains today a controversial artist of significance and excitement. The drawings in this book, published to coincide with The Whitney Museum of American Art's major retrospective of Basquiat's painting, capture all the energy, excess and conflict of the 1980s. An essential link between his street art and his painting, Basquiat's drawings provide insight into his artistic imagination and explore the entire range of his diverse interests.