Word: hoban
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...unclear who these few genuine friends are that Close speaks of. The biography is riddled with quotes from people who claim to have been Basquiat's friends, yet speak of him as some sort of exotic wild child. Hoban slips into this mode, as well. It seems as if Basquiat's hair (he had dreds during his most famous years) or penis size (puportedly large) is mentioned every other page. While Hoban recognizes the racism evident in a few specific encounters, she never gives any sort of profound analysis of the racism that structured Basquiat's most significant relationships, both...
Even through Hoban's bizarre, vulgar-Freudian analysis of Basquiat's artistic ambition as a misplaced search for his father's approval, the meaning of Wright's quote is clear. The danger that Wright refers to is not the danger that Hoban depicts through stories of Basquiat's drug-induced tantrums and unprofessionalism. The danger that Wright speaks of is embodied more in Basquiat's work than in his own damaged body. Hoban lacks the critical eye or artistic sophistication necessary to do any close reading of Basquiat's work. Often, when the opportunity presents itself, because a piece...
...danger that Wright sees in Basquiat is the danger that is missing in Hoban's portrayal. Basquiat's work approaches the underbelly of capitalistic American cultural values with the perspicaciousness that Derrida brings to the deconstruction of logocentric thought. (The two are often discussed together, since 'erasure' is a recurring theme of Basquiat's work.) His work is to American culture what post-structuralism is to Western philosophy: an intelligent threat from the inside out. By repeatedly glossing over Basquiat's work, and focusing instead on trashy melodramas of the art world, Hoban flattens the complexities of Basquita's short...
...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...