“In a way, he is more relevant today than any other artist in the 20th century.”
Louisiana Channel met five contemporary artists, Alvaro Barrington, Arthur Jafa, Julie Mehretu, Dana Schutz and Ouattara Watts, to talk about their relationship and fascination with Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The video consists of six chapters and begins with the artist’s initial meetings with Basquiat, either in person or through his work. Afterwards, the time when Basquiat was living and working is discussed. Arthur Jafa says: “Paying attention to his art wasn’t just paying attention to Jean-Michel Basquiat the person. It was paying attention to a person who really was on the bleeding edge of what might be possible for black people in general.”
A third chapter discusses different cultural influences that formed Basquiat as a person and artist, a fourth focuses on a group of drawings called “The Heads”: “How I read the heads? It was a form that allowed so many of his curiosities to just be dumped into”, says Alvaro Barrington who like Basquiat has Haitian roots and grew up in Brooklyn, New York.
A fifth chapter looks at Jean-Michel Basquiat’s artwork in general. New York-based painter Julie Mehretu states, “He was interested in systems. Interrogating them. Trying to understand them. And how you can put it back together – especially if a system is broken.” Dana Schutz, who lives and works in Brooklyn, adds another perspective being fascinated by the timelessness of Basquiat’s images: “There is a feeling, an energy that is all his own. It feels like something coming from abstract expressionism, but it is totally contemporary.”
A sixth and final chapter reflects on the legacy of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s work and life. Ouattara Watts, who was a close personal friend of Basquiat and moved from Paris to New York in 1988 due to their meeting, remembers him clearly: “He had so many things to say. So many. Culturally. Politically. Spiritually. He wanted a better life for people.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat 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.
Alvaro Barrington, Arthur Jafa, Julie Mehretu, Dana Schutz and Ouattara Watts were interviewed by Marc-Christoph Wagner. All conversations were recorded in October 2025 and will be part of the exhibition Headstrong – Basquiat on Paper opening at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, in January 2026.
Camera: Sean Hanley (Julie Mehretu, Dana Schutz, Outtara Watts), Rasmus Quistgaard (Alvaro Barrington) and Simon Weyhe (Arthur Jafa).
Edited by: Roxanne Bagheshirin Lærkesen
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2025
Cover photo: Jean-Michel Basquiat in his New York studio, 1982. Photograph by Gianfranco Gorgoni © Maya Gorgoni
Louisiana Channel is supported by Den A.P. Møllerske Støttefond and Ny Carlsbergfondet.
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