Jean-Michel Basquiat Quotes
Best 40 Quotes by Jean-Michel Basquiat – Page 1 of 2
“Believe it or not, I can actually draw.”
“Every single line means something.”
“Fire will attract more attention than any other cry for help.”
“Graffiti has a lot of rules in it as to what you can do and what you can’t do, and I think it’s hard to make art under those conditions.”
“I am not a black artist, I am an artist.”
“I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.”
“I don’t listen to what art critics say. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”
“I enjoy that they think I’m a bad boy. I think it’s great.”
“I gotta get out of New York; I hate it. There's no heroin in Hawaii, and it's so beautiful you don't even think about it.”
“I had some money, I made the best paintings ever. I was completely reclusive, worked a lot, took a lot of drugs. I was awful to people.”
“I have a painting where somebody's holding a chicken, and underneath the chicken is somebody's head.”
“I have done only two portraits: one of the artist Francesco Clemente and another of Andy Warhol.”
“I left home at 15, and went to Washington Square Park. I just sat there dropping acid... Now that all seems boring; it eats your mind up.”
“I like kids' work more than work by real artists any day.”
“I like to have information rather than just have a brushstroke. Just to have these words to put in these feelings underneath.”
“I never went to an art school. I failed the art courses that I did take in school. I just looked at a lot of things. And that’s how I learnt about art, by looking at it.”
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“I was wrong: there are no rules if you’re a boy. If you’re a girl, you have to play the game. What is that game – You are allowed to be pretty, and cute, and sexy, but don’t act too smart, don’t have an opinion, don’t have an opinion that it’s out of line with the standards at least. You’re allowed to be objectified by men and dressed like a sl*t but don’t hold your sl*ttiness and do not – I repeat – do not share your own sexual fantasies with the world. Be what men want you to be, but more importantly, be what women feel comfortable with you being around other men. And finally, do not age because to age is a sin. You’d be criticized, you’d be vilified and you would definitely not be played on the radio.”
“I played a guitar with a file, and a synthesizer.”
“I start a picture and I finish it. I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.”
“I think there’s a lot of people that are neglected in art.”
“I thought I was going to be a bum the rest of my life.”
“I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child.”
“I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.”
“I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.”
“I wanted to build up a name for myself.”
“I was a cute kid.”
“I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist, or I’d draw a ram’s head, really messy. I’d never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spiderman.”
“I'd say my mother gave me all the primary things. The art came from her.”
“I'm not a real person. I'm a legend.”
“If I'm away from painting for a week, I get bored.”
“If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you’ve got to realise that influence is not influence. It’s simply someone’s idea going through my new mind.”
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“When I lived in New York, never in my life had I been more mistaken for another than David Chang.”
