Jean-Michel Basquiat Quotes

“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.”

“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.”