"Jean Michel Basquiat"(December 22,1960-August 12,1988)

Born to a Haitian daddy and a first-generation Puerto Rican mama,Jean

grew up in Brooklyn.As a child,he created drawings inspired by comic books and television cartoons.His mama who often took him to local art museums nurtured his early interest in artIn May 1968,a car hit Jean.He suffered a broken arm and his spleen had to be remove.While hospitalized,his mama gave him a copy of Gray's Anatomy,a book that inspired many of his later works as well as the name of the noise band he co-founded in 1979,Gray.After his parents separated in 1968,he and his two sisters lived with their daddy spending two years in Puerto Rico during that time.At the age of 17,Jean dropped out of  high school and lived,by choice,in the streets with various friends.His career as an artist began in 1977 when he began to spray-paint New York City streets and subways with one of his high schools classmates,Al Diaz.The works were signed SAMO,an acronym for "Same Old Shit"and consisted of short poetic phrases such as "Plush Safe he think;SAMO." In December 1978,The Village Voice published an article about the SAMO writings.While working on the SAMO project,which ended in 1979,Jean sold hand-painted postcards and T-shirts to make money.His art was publicly exhibited for the first time in the 1980 Times Square Show.Art critics responded positively to Jean's debut in May of 1981,after being included in several group shows,he had his first solo exhibition in Modena,Italy.His first one-man show in the United States took place in March of 1982 at the Annina Nosei Gallery.John was featured in the 1983 Biennial Exhibition at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York,where he became the youngest artist ever to be included.Between 1983 and 1985,Jean produced 31 works in collaboration with Andy Warhol.Jean was devastated by the death in 1987 of Andy who had been his close friend and mentor.A year later at the age of 27,Joan died of  a drug overdose in his his New York Apartment.Within the span of eight years,he went from being an anonymous tag-writer to an internationally celebrated artist.His large,colorful works combine graffiti art with abstract expressionism.