Basquiat's Influence On American Culture

[1] The year is 1976 and in the world of postmodern art, conceptualism and minimalism were king. These modes of art focused on the ideas behind creating pieces and did not concern themselves much with the piece’s actual aesthetic value. Many contemporary artists stuck to this mold, however, for Jean-Michel Basquiat, the current state may have seemed appealing, but he was ready for a change. Art historian Jordana Saggese describes Basquiat as a revolutionary artist. He was at the forefront of hip-hop, a new cultural movement that stood as a colorful contrast to the status quo (67). Hailing from Lower East Side Manhattan, New York, Basquiat was an artist with a unique background whose brush strokes positioned him to set off a revolution unprecedented
Basquiat pulled from elements of hip-hop culture, namely graffiti, writings or drawings etched on public surfaces that became popular in New York City in the 1970’s, and elevated their status to pieces of artwork that were critically-acclaimed and placed him on a similar level to leading artists of his time.1
[2] Years after Basquiat’s passing, he continues to have a profound impact on both the worlds of hip-hop and art. As Basquiat was the first black artist to be able to take aspects of hip-hop culture and use them to create widely accepted pieces of art, he set a model for the black artists that followed after him. The general expectation was that they should never sacrifice their artistic integrity. Black artists must be “true to their roots” and not give into the temptation of the fame associated with acceptance by higher-class society. Basquiat was able to accomplish this on two levels: consistency in the art
One of Basquiat’s greatest assets that set him apart from his contemporaries was his visual specificity through colorful details during a time in which this was uncommon. The art world had been captivated by the movements of minimalism and conceptualism. Conceptualism placed a greater importance on the ideas behind a piece than the actual execution and minimalist art preferred to abstain from overly detailed pieces of work. While they derived independently during an era in which art was (as Saggese has described it) “prepackaged for consumption”, they were both parts of the postmodern art movement and placed very little significance on aesthetic and execution (68). One of Basquiat’s well-esteemed peers, Andy Warhol, even discussed how while creating one of his most famous pieces of work, 210 Coca-Cola Bottles, he simply made the initial design and reproduced it again and again, almost like a machine. Warhol embraced the banal process of minimalism by stating “Everybody looks alike and acts alike…I think everybody should be a machine” (Warhol, qtd. in Saggese 67). Basquiat was unique in his time and his precisely detailed images which drew homage to graffiti were unique enough to make waves in the world of high-class artwork. Graffiti was distinct in New York for being vividly