“His intellect was startling.”
We met American artist Arthur Jafa to talk about his personal reflections on the life and lasting legacy of Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988).
“Everybody would tell you that. His intellect was startling. Just to be in the presence of how quick his mind was. I don’t mean books and stuff, even though he read, but just sharp.”
Throughout the interview, Jafa draws a parallel between Basquiat and the singer Michael Jackson as young Black figures with no precedent, both of whom were intensely watched by the Black community as test cases for what was possible.
He believes that Basquiat’s success wasn’t just personal but symbolic. Standing on the bleeding edge of Black entry into a historically exclusionary art world. That pressure, combined with racism and constant misinterpretation, Jafa explains, gradually wore him down despite his brilliance.
About Jean-Michel Basquiat: He was born on December 22, 1960, in New York. His father, Gérard Basquiat, was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and immigrated to the United States in 1955. His mother, Matilde Andrades Basquiat, was born in New York to Puerto Rican parents. In 1968, while playing basketball in the street, Basquiat was hit by a car, resulting in a broken arm, internal injuries and the removal of his spleen. During his one-month stay at King’s County Hospital, Brooklyn, his mother gave him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy. The book would significantly influence his later work, which is pervaded by anatomical elements.
In 1977, Basquiat became involved with an Upper West Side drama group called Family Life Theatre. He develops a fictional character named SAMO, who earns his living by peddling a fake religion. Collaborating under the pseudonym SAMO©, Basquiat and graffiti artist Al Diaz spraypainted enigmatic messages on the walls of buildings in Lower Manhattan. With one year remaining to finish high school, in 1978, Basquiat decided to drop out.
In 1979, Basquiat and Diaz ended their collaboration as SAMO©, and the phrase “SAMO IS DEAD” appeared spray-painted on the walls of buildings around SoHo. In 1980, Basquiat’s work was publicly exhibited for the first time at the group exhibition Times Square Show held in a vacant building. The following year, his work is featured in the exhibition New York/New Wave, held at P.S.1, alongside many emerging and established artists. In the years ahead, Basquiat works restlessly, and his career marks one of the steepest rises in the art world. At age 21, he became the youngest artist to participate in Documenta in Kassel, Germany. At 22, he became one of the youngest to exhibit at the Whitney Biennial in New York. His global fame is manifested through solo exhibitions in Europe, Asia, Africa and the United States. At age 27, Jean-Michel Basquiat died in New York.
Arthur Jafa was interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner in Paris, October 2025, in connection with the exhibition ‘Basquiat – Headstrong’ at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, 2026.
Camera: Simon Weyhe
Edited by: Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025
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