Artist of the Day: Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basqiat was an American artist that was heavily influenced by graffiti and mixed abstract with figures to create collaged paintings. Basquiat was inspired by social issues and liked to paint contrasting themes like wealth vs. poverty. He came to fame in the early 80's and was big on the New York art scene until he died. When I was in high school, Basquiat was a huge inspiration of mine and I even did my whole senior year art portfolio using graffiti/mixed media a la Basquiat.  He died in 1986 of an overdose but his legacy lives on in his paintings.I'm sort of obsessed with his color choices and combos and his use of layering is pretty incredible. Below are some of my favorite pieces of his. I adore the fifth one down but how can you really pick a favorite??

*All art created by Jean-Michel Basquiat