Basquiat Show In London

Basquiat, to me, represents exactly why so many people want to defund the National Endowment for Art (including me) and do not want their tax dollars going into art classes in public schools. They are wrong of course on taking it out on the schools, but I can understand their frustration when I see Basquiat touted as some kind of high-quality art. I will concede it can be called art.... but there is nothing high quality about it at all.

If Basquiat is a great artist, then so is the guy that painted graffiti all over this building.

Floyd,

Basqiat opened up the color palette. From blues and greens to oranges and pinks etc.......colors that are not wide in the color spectrum compared to nature's greens.

He left drips on the canvas, where other artists probably never did before.

He melded graffiti with fine art which no other artist on either side of the divide you are stating could.

So all of that and more is why his art matters.

But graffiti does not. Banksy at auction actually commands only low prices compared to many other established artists with less well known names.

To be open, you could drive a fleet of semis between what I do and what Basquiat did. Organization wise massive differences.

Dave

Some time ago I watched a documentary on Basquiat. I knew nothing about him or his work and was, naturally, sort of amazed by how crazy, disjointed, and dysfunctional his life was - even for an artist. His art pretty much repelled me - although not entirely. There's 'something' there, a wild electric quality that comes through the slap-dash graffitti, and I'm not sure I like it but it's part of our culture and a real slice of the times he lived in.

Jim,

I agree he was the dying artist. He lived fast and died young. His life was interesting if not dreaded by any rational adult.

Dave

To me, Basquiat was a genius. He dared to step waaaay outside the acceptable art boundaries of his time. It takes guts to be different. Thanks for the heads-up on the show. I haven't been to London for many years, so maybe ....

I love the image you posted, Floyd!

Floyd,

I would, and I know you would, defend the right to make repugnant artwork. But I do agree the broadcast of repugnant work is not the govt's business.

Basquiat made far more than repugnant work. He never looked to the govt to make money. He had money eventually flowing out of every pour.

Dave

I've always loved Basquiat's exuberant style of painting. I have a documentary about him on my tv lineup, although I think I may have seen it before, my memory isn't so great. How could you not love his colorful, bold style? Each to his own, I guess. Comparing him to average street graffiti is just wrong, lol. (Yes, I know he started out that way.)