Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A survey of the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988). The volume reproduces a selection of paintings, drawings, collages, silkscreens and three-dimensional constructions. The text, includes essays, exploring Basquiat's artistic contributions from several perspectives.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This lavish, large-format catalog volume surveys the approximately nine years that Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose work was first exhibited in 1981, pursued a career in painting during his brief 27-year life. Illustrations are of the high technical quality we expect from those that Abrams distributes. Six essayists contribute their observations on the self-taught Basquiat's art. Every effort is made to align his work with acknowledged 20th-century masters, particularly the American Abstract Expressionists, some Pop artists, and a wide range of European painters who may or may not have influenced the graffiti artist directly. The most apt parallels seem to be Jean Dubuffet and Robert Rauschenburg. Other comparisons have merit, but many grate in what appears to be an attempt to associate Basquiat with as many illustrious and familiar names as possible. The general laudatory tone tends toward the promotional, and the text too often becomes a showcase for the erudition of its authors. The exception to the above is the 17-page chronological biography compiled by M. Franklin Sirmann at the end of the book. This section also contains personal photographs, studio shots, sketches, and exhibition photos that readers will find helpful in understanding this artist and his world. Basquiat's exhibition record covers many major European cities as well as Africa, Japan, and art centers in the US. Undergraduate; graduate; general. P. N. Holder; Austin Peay State University

Booklist Review

The Whitney Museum of American Art's retrospective of the work of Jean-Michel Basquiat has been one of the most controversial events in the subdued, if not chastened, post-1980s art world. Basquiat's brief, fiery, and prolific career can be viewed as the epitome of the 80s' ravenousness for sensation, expression, fame, and money, but his manic art with its incantatory lexicon of imagery and words will stand on its own and burn as brightly in the future as it does now. The talented, lean, and ambitious son of a Puerto Rican mother and Haitian father, Basquiat was a frail receptacle for the irresistible forces of his black, Latino, Caribbean, and New York heritage and high-strung, relentless creativity. He died of a drug overdose at 27, leaving behind hundreds of drawings and paintings, tough questions and paradoxical answers. His large, electrifying canvases throb with the urgency of graffiti and the improvisational flights of jazz. Basquiat painted tributes to black heroes, ironic social commentary, puns on popular culture, and an ongoing, symbolic autobiography. This volume's fine perceptive essays and ravishing color reproductions praise and preserve Basquiat's unique and daring achievement. ~--Donna Seaman