#widow basquait

[zxphe]

He smells of leather, oil paint, tobacco, marijuana and the faint metallic smell of cocaine. He wears handmade wool sweaters and long Mexican ponchos. He never walks in a straight line. He zigzags wherever he is going. Suzanne follows behind him. She feels like a Japanese woman. Jean-Michel can never get a taxi to stop for him. Not even later when he wears an Armani suit and has five thousand dollars in his pocket. Jean-Michel hides behind a car and Suzanne hails the taxis.

Jennifer Clement on Jean-Michel Basquait in her book “Widow Basquait”.

[zxphe]

His other major interest was girls, women. He loved women. He loved sex. He always had a lot of women. The only time he was faithful to me was the first few months that I lived at the Crosby loft. He had many small relationships with many different women. He would become bored quickly, though. That’s why I always had a problem knowing if I was really special to him. I still sometimes don’t know. Other people tell me I was. He once told me that the only women he had ever loved were me and Jennifer Goode.

Suzanne Mallouk, Widow Basquait

jean michel, from what I have read in ‘Widow Basquait’ was not a good person. He was not a role model, he is not worthy- in my belief, of the amount of praise he receives on this website. His artwork is wonderful, amazing, he broke through a thick wall, build by the primarily white , male art world. But he corrupted many people around him and hurt them as well. But I also believe, the fast paced art world of the upper class, drugs and fame corrupted him and he was a victim of this, leading to his death.

[zxphe]

"It was clear that his sexual interest was not monochromatic. It did not rely on visual stimulation, such as a pretty girl. It was a very rich multi-chromatic sexuality. He was attracted to people for all different reasons. They could be boys, girls, thin, fat, pretty, ugly. It was, I think, driven by intelligence. He was attracted to intelligence more than anything and to pain. He was very attracted to people who silently bore some sort of inner pain as he did and he loved people who were one-of-a-kind, people who had a unique vision of things."

-Suzanne Mallouk on Jean Michel Basquait and their relationship.