Jean-Michel Basquiat Quotes
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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.”
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“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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“Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once he grows up.”
“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.”
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“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.”