The most invested debate in graffiti, is it art or vandalism still goes on today, where do people draw the line. Artists like jean-micheal basquiat and artists from decades later like banksy play a big part in where a lot of people set that line. When basquiat and his friends would write multiple choice questions and bold statements on the walls of new york, this was one of graffitis first steps into the serious art world. And today when artists like Banksy and a couple others works get protected with perspex plastic, it goes to show that things have changed, at least In a financial perspective for the better. But on the other hand a lot more money keeps getting invested into cleaning off other graffiti.
Basquiat was a real game changer for the art world, he had a style of working like no-one else, he had charisma and on top of that the art form he chose to work in initially was illegal, oh and he was black, the first black artist in America to gain any sort of success at the levels he did. He would always listen to music when he painted, usually working on several paintings at a time, channelling the no-wave music and spoken words of the era into his work, also the energy from the Hip Hop and breakdancing cultures going on at the time he would channel into his work, the idea of breaking natural forms and use of bright colours. His art spoke volumes about black oppression, in an interview he is asked about rumours of him being locked in the basement and ordered to paint. To which he says I was never locked in anywhere, if I was white they would have just called me an artist in residents. he went from being broke to having more money than he could have imagined over night after a show in 1981, but Basquiat struggled with the dichotomy of his work being a commercial thing when every body started to approach him asking for work to be made in certain ways and work for company, so he would often start to write not for sale in his paintings.
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