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It seemed artist Jean-Michel Basquiat had it all: Handsome, charismatic, talented, smart, befriended by the iconic Andy Warhol, his paintings exhibited internationally and his exhibitions sell-outs. And he was only 25.
By age 27, he was dead of a drug overdose.
"He was one of the people I was truly envious of but ... he was too fragile for this world," said Madonna, who had been his lover.
A meteoric rise and subsequent crash is an all too familiar story, particularly regarding young stars across artistic disciplines. But the subject of the documentary "Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child" is far too compelling to be formulaically dismissed. It opens tonight at Pittsburgh Filmmakers' Regent Square Theater.
- Rating: Not rated but contains some adult themes.
The 2010 film (not to be confused with the 1996 "Basquiat") was written and directed by Tamra Davis, a friend of the artist who taped a rare question-and-answer session with Mr. Basquiat in 1986. After his untimely death, she put the film in a drawer and didn't look at it for 20 years. Ms. Davis combined her tape with other archival material to create a portrait of the artist and, by extension, of rule-breaking, darkly exciting 1970s New York. It's also of particular local interest for footage of Andy Warhol interacting with Mr. Basquiat.
While Mr. Basquiat's more difficult side is alluded to, we don't see the rage and temper tantrums that clouded his reputation. Nor do we see much of his decline into paranoia and drug use. But through anecdotes -- he chased a collector out of his apartment because she requested a painting that would match her sofa, and was rejected by a prominent dealer not because of his art but his personality -- the viewer is clued to Mr. Basquiat's complex persona.
Instead, the film dwells on his charm, his artmaking and his artwork, a significant amount of which is laudably shown.
Mr. Basquiat grew up in a comfortable, middle-class Brooklyn home. His father, of Haitian descent, was an accountant; his mother, of Puerto Rican descent, took her young son to museums. Mr. Basquiat left home permanently when still a teen, landing in the lower Manhattan art community. He and childhood friend Al Diaz developed reputations as graffiti artists whose poetic, astute societal critiques were united under the signature SAMO. Through fortune, hard work, ability and presence, Mr. Basquiat traveled from street person drinking with winos to the cover of The New York Times Magazine. Although he was self-taught, his paintings commanded five figures in his lifetime.
While many have cited art market greed and the negative consequences of celebrity as responsible for Mr. Basquiat's demise, that is only part of the explanation. Other artists become famous and survive. While it could be argued that the duplicitous landscape of fame exacerbated other circumstances of his life that led to his death, had his social and personal foundations been more secure, he may have survived.
As such it is a tale both universal and cautionary.
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