Graffiti Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat

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Luis Ferré-Sadurni, Volunteers Honor a Graffiti Artist by Scrubbing His Headstone. New York Times, Aug 4, 2017.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/ ... uiat-headstone.html

Quote:

(a) "Beneath a modest headstone at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat continues to draw crowds.

"Basquiat, who was born in Brooklyn, achieved a milestone in May when his 1982 painting of a skull sold for $110.5 million, making it the sixth most expensive artwork ever sold at an auction.

(b) "The artist died in August 1988 at 27 of a heroin overdose in his East Village apartment and art studio.

(c) "Basquiat started as a graffiti artist spray-painting foundations in SoHo under the tag 'SAMO' before achieving one-man shows in Paris, Tokyo and Düsseldorf. At the time, he was one of only a handful of celebrated black artists in the United States.

"His primitive, boldly colored figures on canvases and on ordinary objects such as doors and refrigerators were exalted by critics for their composition and for striking a balance between spontaneity and control.

Note:
(a) There is no need to read the rest, which reported that volunteers weed the tomb and tidy up the headstone.
(b)
(i) Jean-Michel Basquiat
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Michel_Basquiat
(1960 – 1988; died of a heroin overdose at his art studio at age 27; father Haitian, mother Puerto Rican; on May 18, 2017 Yūsaku MAEZAWA 前澤 友作 bought his 1982 painting "Untitled" created with oil stick and spray paint and depicting a skull)
(ii) At $110.5 Million, Basquiat Painting Becomes Priciest Work Ever Sold By A US Artist. NPR, May 19, 2017
www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/ ... -sold-by-a-u-s-arti
(photo)