Word: basquiat
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...work in the '80s was no less diverse, yet the mood had shifted. This was the Me decade of Julian Schnabel proclaiming his genius in front of anyone with a tape recorder, and Jean-Michel Basquiat, who managed to squeeze in all 15 minutes of his fame, literally following in Warhol's footsteps through strobe-lighted grottos like Studio 54 before drugs...
...were running a start-up Internet company instead of a comedy talk show. Still, his eclectic personal taste is revealed in the decor: there are several Woody Allen posters on the walls, including one for Take the Money and Run, a small table with a couple of Jean-Michel Basquiat art books on top, a CD rack with a few old Prince albums. The Chris Rock Show starts its fourth season next Friday, and rows of index cards on a board next to Rock's desk chart out the show's upcoming guests. It's a varied list, featuring such...
Once you finally do get to the articles, it's easy to search for entries by keyword or browse by topic. I found myself going cross-eyed reading the lengthy essays on topics ranging from the history of Carnival to the brief life of American painter Jean-Michel Basquiat, but switching to the largest font option was a big help...
Hoban does, however, cover some elements of Basquiat's life that were conspicuously missing from Schnabel's movie. Basquiat had numerous romantic relationships with men, and was fairly out about them. In fact, Basquiat's father's discovery of his son's bisexuality was likely one of the primary reasons Basquiat left home as a young teenager, which lead to his introduction to the underground grafitti culture of the early 1980s. And, where Schnabel's film depicts Andy Warhol as Basquiat's primary connection to the whorl of fame and fortune, Hoban tells us that Basquiat worked early...
Overall, Hoban's biography offers a somewhat entertaining read to the Basquiat fan who is willing to disregard Hoban's lack of knowledge about art, or to the fan of the 1980s who enjoys tales of decadence and back-stabbing. Yet, the book remains frustrating, not only because of its superficiality, but because of its flippant disregard for the pain that Basquiat's associates and supposed friends obviously caused him. Unfortunately, Hoban manages to depict Basquiat as both a "victim" and a monster, without touching upon "the real danger of Basquiat right...