Jean-Michel Basquiat

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The neo-expressionist movement in America lasted from the late 70s and came to an end in the early 90s. The movement was a revival of expressionism, a style in which an artist portrays emotional experience into their work (Sandler, 227). It was also a response to the popular art style of the time called minimalism, which involved mostly blank canvases or lines. Neo-expressionism, on the other hand, was raw emotion and chaos. The main figures of the movement were Julian Schnabel, David Salle, and Ada Applebroog. A pioneer of the movement, and also the focus of this essay, is Jean-Michel Basquiat. His art referenced many famous artists and art pieces, from which he found inspiration. This inspiration was one of the features that made the movement …show more content…

They were living on couches, and sneaking onto trains to get from one part of the city to another. In Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child, A documentary by Tamra Davis, an ex-girlfriend of Jean-Michel’s was quoted, “If you've decided to live a certain counterculture, subversive lifestyle, its very difficult to go home” (2010). Jean-Michel lived that counterculture lifestyle; he was a graffiti artist, spray painting New York under the name of SAMO. Jean-Michel never had a real job because he claimed that it felt humiliating to have someone order him around. When he became desperate for money, he made and sold postcards on the streets of New York (Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child). Neo-expressionism also operated largely outside of the state. However, as with most art, critics were quick to claim that the art was being produced and sold as a commodity and therefore was controlled by the market. But many chose to take the side that Irving Sandler did in his book Art of the Postmodern Era, “… genuine works of art had meanings which have nothing to do with commerce or politics and are unaffected by either” (Sandler, 225). This was the mindset that drove most Neo-expressionist artists. In all “genuine” art, there is an attempt to disturb the hegemony and make people see things

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