Basquiat and His Death

So Young So Lost

Jean-Michel Basquiat was a young graffiti artist in New York. He was born in Brooklyn on December 22, 1960. Ever since he was a child, he showed an interest in art which his mother encouraged. He grew up to be one of the most famous artists of our times, but also one of the most troubled. He died at the young age of 27 from a heroin overdose. I believe factors other than that of the drug overdose led to Basquiat’s death. Those factors are: The stresses of being an artist in the city, hereditary depression, and the death of his good friend and fellow artist, Andy Warhol.
Jean-Michel’s career as an artist started when “he left high school a year before graduation, and sold hand-painted postcards on the streets. He also started spraying cryptic aphorisms on subways and around Brooklyn with the signature SAMO©” (Parker). “In June of 1980, Jean-Michel’s art was publicly exhibited for the first time in an art show sponsored by Colab” (Parker). Af...