Jean Michel Basquiat's mother was Puerto Rican and his father was of Haitian descent. In 1977, Basquiat began spraying graffiti on the walls of Manhattan, where, together with his friend Al Diaz, he placed the notorious SAMO tag. In this period, Basquiat made T-shirts, cards, drawings and collages based on his earlier graffiti work, which he sold on the streets in order to make ends meet. His work was quickly picked up by galleries and in 1982 his first solo exhibition was held at the Annina Nosei Gallery in New York. A year later, he began working with Andy Warhol.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
New York 1960 - New York 1988
