Original subtitles

You should put your chair here.

This side.

Welcome to Téléland!

I must not think that I am filmed.

This is good?

- Ready? - Yes.

This is a quality film, eh?

Dad, I'll become famous

I really envied...

but it was too fragile for this world < / i>

Basquiat was first famous for its art

Then he became famous for his celebrity

Before being famous for its infamy

As a king, he ruled by talent

In the late 70s, New York knows the crisis .

Crime reign

Times Square is dominated by the drug,

prostitution and sex shops .

Perhaps because it is part many poignant film

Midnight Cowboy, Taxi Driver...

New York has some sort of mysterious aura at the time

Manhattan, Downtown attracts

art students, marginalized, misfits

All circumstances are met

for creativity and inspiration

coexist in obscure splendor and spectacular

Everyone was everything. We had a group

We were painter, actor, sculptor,

writer, poet. It was everything.

People came to be musicians, writers, etc..

They had the means to live in Manhattan

and do what they wanted.

No need to have a stable job to be an artist.

Suffice it to say we are director

and organize its first screening

for the future.

Everyone lived and worked around Bowery.

Strolling, we met everyone.

The evening Downtown became the playground

a group of 500 or 600 people.

Howie Montag spoke of "Downtown 500".

There were about 500 people

who knew all. We were in art

And fashion.

We found all.

I started seeing strange poems

in the city.

" A pin drops as a pungent odor."

© Samo. Or "Make soup, build a strong, fire."

These tags in SoHo, it was weird

because it was not graffiti hip-hop.

This was for the world of art.

Many We were wondering who was Samo.

"You know Samo?"

"This is an old woman."

It turned out that it was Jean-Michel.

You had an accomplice?

A Al Diaz.

We started graffiti when we were in school.

We wanted to make a conceptual art project.

The goal when making graffiti, is the glory.

Get a status recognition.

It is said:.. "I control this space

" and I will be known "

Jean has always wanted to be famous

SoHo News began to publish our graffiti.

It was not like other graffiti artists,

who write their name

and sometimes have a painterly appearance

Graffiti Samo had a poetic content

=. = It was a success

There was talk about him in his own way

There taguait in a new area

The people saw

It is around Canal Street that everything Password

Those who are lost may find

here and now, in this area!

We decided to have a party

to be called "Canal Zone Party".

John heard about this party.

Someone said: "Samo is there."

I replied:

"Really?"

He said: "He wants to meet you." I asked where. He was there.

Samo! You saw on the walls, especially in the Village.

This gentleman is Samo.

- What you look like? - I had a shaved head.

When I left home, I wanted to hide .

They seek not a guy with a shaved head.

John wrote: "Which of these symbols is everywhere?"

He ​​had to choose between Lee Harvey Oswald, Coca-Cola, etc..

Graffiti in QCM Samo.

Later, John asked:

"You wanna start a band?" I said yes.

And that night, we created "Gray".

The peculiarity of the group

is that neither John nor I were not musicians.

Michael played drums like crazy.

Jean did not know play the clarinet.

I was amazed, I had never seen best group.

Mike attended the performance.

He ​​played a kind of machine noise.

Our concert, it gave it.

I remember to have found it very cool.

The girls seemed to like it too. It was new!

The first public work of Jean-Michel, is Gray.

I was a waitress in a seedy bar

At the corner of 2nd Avenue and 5th Street .

He came, he leaned against the wall.

Sometimes he used the jukebox

and stared at me, without using .

He had a great coat and dreadlocks.

It was a little scary.

It lasted for weeks.

Finally, one day,

he came to sit at the counter

and he ordered a drink.

He ​​ordered what was dearest.

From Rémy Martin.

I realized later that did not sit

because he had no money.

We were broke, we took the train without paying

is encrusted sleeping in people.

This was a time of madness.

Many We were living like this for 18 years.

We landed at New York, we lived day to day.

I really loved the thug life.

Jean led a life much more bohemian.

You were broke?

I lived...

right, left?

How do you manage to survive?

I was doing.

We finally survive when needed.

A Brooklyn or Manhattan?

I went to Washington Square Park.

Sometimes you have a part time job?

How you making money

to live?

I was looking for money on the ground Mudd Club Hal Ludica.

We often found.

I wonder how I managed to hold days without sleep,

eating chips and cheese or anything.

What were you thinking at the time?

This is not funny...

From eating chips.

But it costs almost nothing.

Panhandling,

drinking wine with drunks.

Jean-Michel and I we were children of immigrants.

If one decides to live in the against-culture

subversively, it's hard to go home.

I refused to go home.

You think I could live indefinitely in the street?

Yes, more or less.

I thought I'd be on the street indefinitely.

This was perhaps a mistake.

In fact, trying to break through.

It seems embarrassing to talk about celebrity.

Because here and now that wants to be famous?

It means nothing.

But it was truly drilling.

And I knew he would succeed.

I heard stories

on the street survival

with girlfriends.

- Really? - In part, yes.

It helped a lot.

You could always find a place to sleep.

It helps, yes.

Once, I remember

to be passed to a preview of Schnabel.

Julian was a star,

the darling of the art world, acclaimed by the press,

hero at Mr. Chow.

I remember what John said: "One day, I will fight against him

" I will fight against him "

He was with an astonishing sophistication

for. a teenager.

He understood perfectly where it should be placed.

At the age of 18, he was already absolute epicenter

the musical avant-garde and artistic the world.

It's time TV Party

Who are these people on TV

They realize all your wildest dreams

In the past, TV Party did discover

the world of graffiti in New York.

Tonight we are lucky to have with us

one who gives the most part language in graffiti.

Samo and his partner.

- "Seimo", sorry. - Mr. Samo.

- My assistant. - Sorry.

You always write different things?

Sometimes I write the same thing.

All depends on my inspiration.

Then he started coming.

He ​​loved the character generator.

There was graffiti on the screen ,

comments.

Prostitution increased gamma

Death is a gastric bandage

Before starting to paint,

Jean made postcards.

He sold these cards in the street.

He still had his Iroquois

and clothes stained with paint.

This was a real show.

He entered a restaurant

where Andy Warhol and Henry Geldzahler lunched.

Andy Warhol was a kind

demigod or god.

This was our hero,

It was all for us.

This was the person

for which we were in New York.

He went to present

and proposed their postcards.

Andy Warhol bought 2 or 3

I said. "Tell what?"

He said: "I've been there, that's all."

I asked what had been thought Geldzahler.

"He thought it was young." I said, "Really?"

Andy was the best, he wanted to be the best.

It was therefore natural that he wants to work with him.

It would surely have loved attend Picasso.

I went out every night. Him too.

We often went out together.

Jean-Michel wanted to be an artist,

an artist of his time.

The artists exhibited like that.

With John we went out, we broke.

They danced.

We bought a drink,

is smoked.

You know the kind? It was really the 400 blows.

At the time, it was darling, the prince of this medium.

He had an amazing way dancing.

More cool it, you die.

The girls clung to him like glue .

He broke hearts.

I met on the trail of the Mudd Club.

He was pretty broke.

I saw his drawings. So when I crossed,

I told him: "You should make art."

And I gave him money. "Go buy the paper,

"Do some work and I sell

." It will make you money "

Great artists have a characteristic. Insurance

that can only come from their same

And he was even 18 or 19

We all believed in him We knew he was gifted

He was known while being mowed

. Elio Fiorucci had a shop on the 59th

and he loved the middle of Downtown

One day he said: "What happens is fascinating.

"Should make a movie."

It said: "Good idea!"

It was the story of a young artist struggling

in the cruel world of Manhattan. But he succeeded.

We decided to host in local production.

It was a way be sure to find it.

We bought him his very first canvas for the film.

And one day,

there was a great photo.

I said, "That's enough, these tips street!"

I tore a large piece. I hung

and it is set for days.

It was very complex.

This is the indicator draw

I knew he would be famous.

Working on Downtown 81 at the time

They sold his first canvas.

Glenn O'Brien had introduced Deborah Harry,

who bought his table $ 200.

He was delighted to have $ 200.

He came to invite me to dinner.

We went to a Chinese restaurant 2nd Avenue.

He told me: "Order what you want."

The most expensive thing would cost $ 10,

but it was important.

He moved with me shortly after our meeting.

I did not want it specially, but it happened.

I forbade him to my room. He ​​slept in the living room.

It was very innocent.

I wanted it works

to contribute to the cost.

We were arguing because of that.

He ended up working with a friend electrician.

I was very proud that make this effort.

On returning home, he started to cry.

He said: "I can not, I want to participate in the rent

" But I refuse to be humiliated like this

" We went to a rich lady on Park Avenue.

"She treated me like a slave

" I can not stand "

It was something very moving

It was agreed:.. I would work, he would paint

Expo Times Square has made the Village Voice

This was the first exhibition of radical art 80

=. = Everyone could come and proclaim artist

There was more than one hundred artists

A Times Square, was the first time that Jean-Michel

participated in a real expo organized

I did participate Jean-Michel and Keith

I brought them and they were noticed.

He painted in our apartment.

We had little money. So he brought

windows, doors,

what he found in the street.

My first paintings were done on windows.

It felt a framework

and I painted on the glass

or doors that I found on the street.

In the apartment he shared with Suzanne

I had an amazing experience artistic.

He ​​was very focused on his work.

There was an incredible painting on the fridge door.

As on glass.

Plenty of drawings scattered on the ground.

There were ground leaves.

Works apparently unfinished. There passed from one to another.

It literally walked on leaves

leaving traces of sneakers.

They said we could date works

after he wore sneakers over the years.

No artist has more work physically abused him.

He loved there

Music, TV

and a big pile of books.

Being multitasking,

it was part of his brain system.

After the Expo Times Square

Diego wanted to do as it pleases

and set up his own exhibition entitled New York / New Wave

PS1. It was an event.

I lived with Suzanne Mallouk.

She would throw me out.

And Diego arrived with his expo, was great.

The expo P.S.1. date of 81

I was tired of seeing white walls with white

and white wine.

The opening was the equivalent

a big exhibition at the Metropolitan or MoMA.

People lined the street to enter.

It was crowded.

There were new artists. I told Diego I wanted to see

a day when it was closed.

Among all artists, I enjoyed

small works of Jean-Michel.

They were direct,

content was immediate.

Draw attention to his work

was not difficult.

As soon as I started to show his work ,

people liked.

Diego Cortez made an appointment. We went together.

Many artists participating in the exhibition.

In the last room, had this size,

on the main wall, there was that his works.

Small and large hung on any wall.

This is where I discovered what he was .

I found it very interesting.

After PS1, the star of John

was at the top of the constellation emerging artists.

I called and he wanted to take me

with his girlfriend, in the Lower East Side.

There, I saw several drawings.

He said he wanted exhibit in a gallery.

But he had no tables.

I said, "You have nothing."

He replied: "Give me enough to buy the paintings."

I did.

And shortly after,

he showed me the beautiful paintings.

Annina Nosei sympathize with him

and leaves him the basement of his gallery Prince Street

as a workshop.

It was a nice basement, with a canopy.

Assistants gallery couldnt.

He arrived early, just after open the gallery.

He often brought increasing Dean & DeLuca.

If he was late, he apologized.

I replied: "But you do not have schedule, just when you want."

He put music, which made me mad.

From classical, Ravel.

Always Bolero, it made me really mad

I tapped with my umbrella for that decline.

This is a crucial period for Jean-Michel

because it marks the transition

between working in the street

and work in a real studio.

Shortly after, he gets his first exhibition with Annina Nosei.

The first person he wanted to show the exhibition

is his father.

And Gerard came.

His first real public expo, is at Annina Nosei.

A big success!

He won $ 200,000 in one evening.

Everything is sold in one evening.

One day there was a knock at the door.

Jean-Michel was naked

and he went to open stark naked.

It was Rene Ricard .

He came to interview

Art Forum

My first article for Art Forum spoke of Julian Schnabel

He knew that the next person on which I write

should be totally unknown

terribly young very ambitious.

I wanted to take a career

I could follow for a long time.

As I did with Schnabel.

Article L'Enfant bright

has contributed to launch the career of Jean-Michel.

It was an article for Art Forum, Rene Ricard

As soon as I saw his work, I was seduced.

He came to talk table we had purchased.

our attention on the snake in the corner.

It was very well done.

And he was very proud.

Sometimes you accept describe your work?

I do not really know how to describe my work .

You find significant not able to describe it?

This is like asking Miles: "How to sound your trumpet?"

I do not think he could say...

why he played such a note at a given time.

This is an automatic, mostly.

We have already written something well seen on your work?

Robert Farris Thompson has spoken well,

the author of Flash of the Spirit, the best book

I read on African art.

He had the gift

capture the energy of the street

to make great art.

He had a great ability to access

almost everything he had in mind and Memory

and channel it through his body to put

on canvas or on paper.

I do not know how he acquired his knowledge,

but he knew a lot.

Familialement it was advantage over other children.

He was trilingual, at least.

His mother spoke Spanish,

his father spoke French and Creole

and him, the language of the street.

We forget, but great artists are often

multilingual.

Picasso spoke Catalan, Spanish , French.

What is the first work of art

that has impressed you?

Surely Guernica

my favorite table when I was little.

My mother drew drawing on the Bible.

For example, Samson destroying the temple.

- She was good? - Enough.

His mother was more down-to-earth.

I have not known.

His father, an accountant, belonged to the middle class.

He wore blue blazers with brass buttons.

His father was a great guy playing tennis.

He epitomized Greenwich.

They lived on Pacific Street. The whole building was theirs.

And you start drawing?

I wanted to make the cartoon.

Can I chose to paint 15.

The black sheep of the family?

Yes, until I succeed.

His work is interesting because it refers

by artists he admired.

Particular Leonardo da Vinci.

Nobody can say that Basquiat lacked ambition.

I remember

the Venus de Milo in the middle of one of his paintings

He said. "This is because between in the , history. "

It addresses the big story paint before him.

He ​​is aware of and that is the context of his work.

It addresses Twombly, De Kooning,

he addresses Pollock.

This is a great artist part of the story.

I place at the top with Van Gogh and Picasso.

What is important, is that it is not limited

visual artists as mentors.

This is another aspect of his genius.

He never copied, he improvised a different vision.

According to Jean-Michel, to talk about Wag,

he needed to know that the influence was not influence.

This is the idea of ​​someone passing by a new spirit.

What do you read?

Books that contain facts

or the poetry of Mark Twain.

I love Twain.

The last time you read William Burroughs.

I was going to say Burroughs, I was afraid to do too young.

But this is my favorite living author.

His work owes much

the influence of William Burroughs and John Giorno ,

this poetic school.

Jean-Michel admired William.

The cutting technique Burroughs ,

the way things stick is an important aspect

the structure of the work of Jean-Michel .

Burroughs borrowed surrealist

the idea of ​​cutting a page

written machine or hand text.

He cut 4 or 5 places

then repositioned the pieces.

It gave amazing images.

In this concept,

one perceives a form of wisdom that emerges

because gibberish bed and suddenly an expression emerges,

full of depth.

This is the essence of cutting.

The influence of John Cage, of the avant-garde jazz

Miles Davis, Coltrane

is interesting.

He ​​joined Charlie Parker and Miles Davis

entire list of heroes of jazz

he can bring in his pantheon.

What music do you like?

Bebop is what I prefer.

But I listen to everything.

Although I prefer bebop.

There is an aesthetic bebop in what he puts on the page.

Bebop upsets melody

harmonies and unprecedented way.

It creates a new vocabulary jazz.

His technique of collage was to make things explode.

He used the expression "Reality apart."

These different fragments of the way

whose cubist and post-cubist build sections

and assemble things patchwork.

The work of Jean-Michel was not a patchwork.

This was a galaxy of reality that had exploded.

Everything is the same.

This was a great loft, enough class.

I went there 3 or 4 nights a week.

A lot of people came.

This was an amazing place.

Those who knew Jean-Michel saw him come out,

socializing.

The question is: "When did he work?"

There is an amazing amount of work .

His work ethic was amazing,

as its concentration.

If there were in the world, he was not idle.

He constantly painted,

he constantly inspired by what someone said

or what was on TV.

I came the first day and remained months. If I left,

he called me back to work.

It was 24 hours 24

There are tables made with his assistant Steve Torton

where the angles exceed like someone

had wrapped it quickly for make a frame.

He showed me moldings,

wood moldings not very strong,

a window latch, nails upholstery, canvas.

He asked me to make a frame.

This is what gave birth these frameworks.

Incredible paintings.

We bought some, but we should all buy.

When I moved into the loft ,

collectors came to see the works.

If he does not like, if someone told :

"I want a table with red to go with my couch"

he became furious.

He threw out,

poured their food on head out the window.

Cereals, water, milk.

As they left.

Jean-Michel was known for his independence.

Nobody ever told him what to do .

He did what he wanted.

He transformed the art in competition

with a ranking as tennis, sports metaphors.

He assumed his ambition. He ​​wanted to be number one.

He was keen to climb the social ladder.

I was told of a young painter I had to track.

So I went and I liked it.

He had the spirit of competition.

One day, at Mr. Chow, he told me something.

He ​​always spoke of boxing match between us.

I said, "Thou shalt have thy boxing match

" if you're not calm "

This was a great way to start a friendship

and. Labour Relations

This is one of the most exciting things

that happened in my career.

I was in the queue Spago.

I waited to enter, he was 22 h.

Jean-Michel arrived Ronald Z. And Fab Five Freddy,

all behind Larry Gagosian.

The was silence in the restaurant.

These three young Black

were all more beautiful than each other.

I do not know if people thought that they were stars

or they were ripped off, if

but dead silence fell on the restaurant.

My first encounter with Jean-Michel

is when I worked in a gallery for my studies.

He arrived at an opening.

He had a cassette

and asked me to put it.

In the back room, I had a string .

In 5 minutes he transformed the room

VIP dance club.

The opening was a success. Everyone came.

The rumor had was a type

and he was 20 years powerful works.

I went to the exhibition at Gagosian .

This was huge.

We were stunned by the power and content of his work.

This was a phenomenon.

It has been very well received by the middle of LA,

Hollywood people.

I think everything was sold at the opening.

He left Annina Nosei after a year.

I said, "I'll introduce you Bruno Bischofberger."

He was already interested in me.

I called.

I asked if I could attend.

He replied: "Yes, I was hoping this request."

Sometimes he would ask my opinion. I said, "That's great."

He replied: "You like any shit!"

But if we allow any criticism ,

it made him furious.

He said: "We would not say, but each trait I trace

" is thoughtful. It must be like that.

"Do not believe that is done by chance."

2 He came to see me once a year,

sometimes 3 or 4

He loved going to the museum

to see any form of art, archeology

to folk art or expressionism.

taste and could recognize quality.

Thereafter, things have quickly changed.

It soon became a millionaire.

At this time, we went out dinner

then returned to the workshop.

He ​​wore an expensive Armani suit.

He ​​saw a table and decided to change it.

And he's trying to paint Armani suits.

He was in the loft Crosby Street.

There was plenty of money around.

He was very young, he never had much money.

It was very difficult for him.

The spend? Set it aside? He ​​bought two TVs

and a registration table.

He had no bank account.

He hid the money in the house.

When storing, I found thousands of dollars

under the couch cushions or between the pages of a book.

He led the high life.

When I went to see, there was always the world.

They smoked grass, there were bottles

wine very expensive,

very highly refined dishes in the fridge

which ended up being wasted.

For a moment, he partied big.

But money can be fatal if you do not know the deal.

I assured stewardship.

I had to think about the provisions, the limousine.

I divertissais buyers.

I had to organize the party.

What was your reaction when you started to sell?

I do not know.

Too much confidence in me. No, more confidence.

I was happy to succeed,

have everything I wanted.

I just found it. Do you understand?

The first major article on Jean-Michel

appeared in the New York Times Magazine

For an African-American young artist

it was amazing . A true rock star status.

There was a great shot cover.

It is Jean-Michel

as an individual, a phenomenon.

He found himself propelled

in the world of culture.

Jean-Michel became a big star.

He was famous, rich, attending celebrities.

Glory, gifts, money.

It is the tearing.

Of all the painters who have succeeded, you're the only

distinguished by this kind of personality.

But I also like to spend a thug. I love it.

Alcohol came into play quite

I remember telling him: "You must understand

" what it is to be famous.

"Do what you want."

It was very hard for me.

Venus He called me in his paintings.

When he came out with Madonna,

he painted me knocking Madonna.

True that has battered the Roxy.

I am ashamed.

It provoked a cult.

It was a cult figure.

Two painters who find themselves in this situation ,

nobody had ever known that.

This was different.

Whether Fab Five Freddy...

This was not the same.

I was not his equal, because I was older.

He always wanted to have my opinion.

I realized the film

to tell him what I thought. 10 dollars piece

.

You did not trampled to do that.

I offer thee five dollars.

Bruno, you lend me money?

He knew Andy through me, at a luncheon.

He had to do a portrait.

Jean-Michel did not want lunch.

He ​​said he could not stay.

After one hour,

He arrived with a canvas.

He had gone home. From the photo of Andy and he

he had this table very quickly. A masterpiece.

We all gathered and Andy told me:

"I am insanely jealous."

I asked why. He said: "It goes faster than me."

Andy Warhol, like many, was seduced by Jean-Michel.

He had a crush on him.

This was huge for Jean to be as close to Andy.

He led the dance.

It was great to be a friend of someone you all admired.

It turns?

It turns?

This is my best...

No, not the artist richest in the world.

Jean-Michel, What is your name?

Your name treasure?

Basquiat.

Jean-Michel wanted to expose in major galleries.

Mary Boone, Leo Castelli...

But it was not recognized

elite of the art world.

He was considered an artist

that could make the cover The New York Times Magazine

because his work had an underground side.

A lot of people in the world of art

do not put the same level as Schnabel

Salle, Bozell and others.

He saw Schnabel and Salle who were exposed to Whitney.

There was not entitled this kind of recognition.

I asked him what he wanted gallery.

He chose the Leo Castelli.

Meanwhile Leo had heard of him.

He ​​knew it was inconvenient.

He said: "I'm too old to handle such a artist."

This was disappointing, especially for Jean-Michel.

The kind of art that was considered

the mid 70

minimalism, conceptualism

left little room innovation.

If we were at the end of minimalism,

we got some academic thing.

I arrived in full minimalism.

It disturbed me. It divided a few people.

It alienated people compared to art.

This was truly a pioneer

neo-expressionism.

His work broke boundaries.

People do not understand.

Once he drew a picture the size of the canvas

and he wanted to expose in a museum in New York.

I agreed.

It was offered at MoMA who told us:

"It's not worth wasting much space."

We tried the Whitney.

They also rejected.

If a new work

is really significant, there are chances

to put it uncomfortable

people like me.

Because I'm totally impregnated

of what the painting looked like before .

With Basquiat, full of art professionals

were skeptical over his work,

Since it does not match to their idea of ​​a painting in a museum.

Yet is exactly what

to create the art of the future.

How do you work?

You take a blank canvas and you start painting?

In general, I do a lot and I removed a lot.

Then I added, I removed.

This is an ongoing process mounting.

What people love your job?

No idea!

The work of Jean-Michel has a very direct look pleasing.

I do not like as intellectuals, but they like it.

He appealed to lots of people

who knew little the history of art.

They watched and they appreciated.

What he did was never calculated.

But he was very careful in what he was .

I mean he was working on instinct,

incredible instinct.

He wrote the word "tar" 5 times, the scratched 4 times.

He had a unique talent in a generation.

He knew how to make pictorial words

integrate a table.

It is clear that channels the child in him.

What is your first memory of childhood scoring?

When I was overthrown by a car.

- How? - I was playing in the street.

- How old were you? - I was 7 or 8 years.

What were you thinking when that happened?

It was like a dream, see this car...

As a film in slow motion

when a car arrives.

And they took you to the hospital?

Yes, I was operated belly.

Psychologically, it is as if time had stopped.

He voluntarily took this idea

as a painter and is appropriate.

"I'm going back in time

" and hold my instrument as a child.

" I'll draw the way a child."

It was also mind the most advanced of its time.

It was the both.

It seems that now you rub shoulders with the cream ...

and you frequent the club Area.

Really?

Many people queuing outside the Area.

This is a box and a gallery with beautiful world.

This is huge and it is hard to get.

I've never had trouble returning,

but it seems that it's hard.

I noticed that John changed a bit

when he began to attend Andy.

John is a bit remote of his old buddies.

The old Jean I missed.

I do not call because I feared his indifference.

I went to openings

and I saw him in a corner with new people

who ignored me.

Andy was in love with Jean-Michel.

Imagine instead a woman between a homosexual and a hetero

in a relationship.

This was the case.

I was less see, I felt

Not be in my place.

As he was known in New York

it was hard for him work in this city.

This is where he realized he loved Los Angeles

and could quite work here.

He rented a studio in Venice.

He kept a year and a half.

There is a lot of work.

I loved watching him paint. It does not bother him.

His way of painting was beautiful.

With speed and elegance.

There was a group of people with whom he was at ease.

I started to film him painting.

I filmed it on 2 or 3 years.

I spent time in his studio.

Jean went out at night.

Then he returned and locked for 2 or 3 days.

He spent his time painting.

You have a way of working

specific hours?

I am often watching TV. I need a working basis.

For example?

Magazines, books...

I do not mind being surrounded you to paint?

I prefer to work alone.

Before, I had a lot of assistants.

Without them, I was much more productive.

There went out a lot and had to paint

because he had his works collectors.

Each table should be a masterpiece

international criticism because was interested in him.

It was increasingly hard for him

Toggle between the young man adventurous and serious painter.

He ​​told me he had begun to heroin.

He decided to take drugs

to concentrate.

I prefer a cup of coffee.

Put ​​yourself in his place. Imagine a boy

twenty years

who lives in the street.

And within 2 years

it becomes a very famous artist.

Everyone agglutinates around him.

Can you imagine how hard it is to adapt ?

He took heroin to focus ,

while those that affect it

to botch.

Jean wanted to burn life both ends.

In modern times, there has always ,

Whether Pollock or Van Gogh

the idea that the artist is a person

whose life is so intense that he would support more.

And there is always the question

whether it is a prophecy come true.

I think Basquiat identified himself consciously

these hero's tragic end.

He ​​knew the mystical drugs.

What's the motivated to go further?

Everything that happens to you grows.

It's hard to return to reality.

This was a big expo for Jean.

He ​​found himself with the most prominent artists

among his contemporaries, as Schnabel ,

Francesco Clemente.

John and me, we had dinner.

Jean raises his hand to hail a taxi.

A taxi, then two, then three,

then spend four and five.

Sometimes John annoyed when a taxi happening.

He tried to open the door

and he said: "You bastard!"

It happens when you're black and you lives in New York.

You know what I mean?

SPECIAL MISSION

This year, no arrests has not received much attention

as a young artist.

September 15, Michael Stewart, 25, was arrested

have tagged the wall a subway station .

30 minutes later, Stewart is in a coma,

Emergency Bellevue Hospital

Michael Stewart was my friend.

He was very sweet, a little effeminate.

This young Black with dreadlocks

came home one evening by the line L

to Brooklyn where he lived with his parents.

He ​​was beaten by five white police officers.

13 days after the arrest, Michael Stewart died

Jean-Michel was upset.

It could have been him.

You are in a gallery, at a party

a place where everyone knows you

and looks at you, hoping drugging with you

or sleep with you.

Upon leaving, you become this Black looks like a bum

For most people. It makes crazy.

It was very different for black artists in 1982

The situation was very different.

The art world was not prepared.

Consider that you practice a form

of primal expressionism.

- Really? - Like a monkey?

Say...

A primate?

I do not know.

- Is that... - You said.

For this exhibition, he was an artist like no other.

But color makes you different.

You look otherwise.

Comments we read about him

had a kind of coded language.

It would never have happened to a white .

The world of art, which is full of people left

thought he was going in that direction,

to disadvantaged

minorities.

His artistic contribution

is so tiny that it is almost zero.

Legend

you lock them in the basement to paint.

This is only wickedness.

I was never locked anywhere.

If I was white, is resident artist talk.

It is shocking to think

that is recent, the early 80

It often happens to me. Most of my articles talk...

- From your personality. - Yes, more than my work.

How you react in this case?

They are often racist.

I know it affected him, it was hard for him.

They see me as a young wild

a man-monkey, shit like that.

This intensity makes him a primitive artist.

But he grew up in New York in the 70s

What he lived

remember what happened many black artists.

In the eyes of whites, it is all black,

they do not know any other.

We see that a lot of thought its place in the world

than blacks.

This is reflected in all his work.

His designs focus on the black experience.

It is not talking about his greatness,

it also includes his brothers and sisters.

He explored incredibly rich history of blacks.

His work contains an epic vision of history.

It goes back to slavery, Robert Johnson, Joe Louis.

As an Indian shaman

he tells us in his paintings:

"I am with you,

" but the story is also in my direction "

It honors. Negro kings

because the world does not do

He said. "You're a negro king."

And we found with the elite of this world

controlling our value.

It is contemplated by this world makes us as we are

But we know we can fall into oblivion

What am I to them?

Just the negro interesting last year.

There is something happened to John.

After a moment, the euphoria fell.

He ​​started to become suspicious,

a little paranoid.

It was not always trust.

He thought that he was being used and it was botched.

Before you let drag tables

and traces of what you had done.

You stopped doing voluntarily?

Yes, it would end the auction.

I know people who sold things!

Everyone I know did.

He had more money all his friends.

So, it made him suspicious.

More and more people rubbed by the interest.

He had reason to be paranoid,

But it was drug related.

When you take drugs,

it is very hard to keep feet on the ground.

You're going to dinner

and talk about it in the newspaper.

Do you like it?

I guess it can be nice.

But not necessarily?

I prefer to try to stay away,

a bit away.

Not always out, to avoid being belittled,

as it happens very often.

Sometimes one is attacking you, right?

Always.

I know of no Featured in which it did not happen.

It is attacking you?

It happens.

He wanted to burst.

I think it broke.

He would not suffer.

Had he been a little more support,

if he had felt less alone,

less exploited, if he had been less disturbed...

In fact, was not equipped...

to face this crap.

He went to Hana.

He went with his father.

He ​​wanted to prove something to him,

show him that he had succeeded.

John wanted him to comply.

He wanted his approval.

From wherever you went, which you prefer?

The answer is trivial, this is Hawaii.

Why?

Because it is both convenient and wild, I guess.

There is everything there is in America, as the toothpaste.

One can also run 2 h.

And people speak English.

Torton Steve said something about you.

He said: "Jean-Michel is so brain

" you can put it anywhere "

It's not that your environment you indifferent,

but especially you live in your head

There is a big difference between here and Hawaii

I must think less about what surrounds me

and follow my instincts more

L ' , environment should not affect my work

I have to work on what I want

Do you consider yourself to be as naive when you were little

I'm still bothered by the past..?.

I say. "Had I known, I would not have done it"

Now there is a tremendous pressure

And competition in the world art which you belong.

You stay away to avoid cynicism?

In the world of art, they are all mercenaries

who want to enrich the maximum and as quickly as possible.

L.A. Was a safety valve.

He could not spend his life

it is not easy to integrate.

But it was to work. He ​​was more relaxed to paint.

When he returned to New York and he left his studio

I felt that it was an evolution.

Everyone knew it was Crosby Street.

People struck home.

Or, as it was on the 1st floor, they shouted, "Hey, John!"

He had away from it.

Andy found an apartment on Great Jones Street .

He loved Jean-Michel almost like a son.

Sometimes he worry for him.

Me too.

Sometimes we talked about.

I saw a lot with Andy at the time,

when they were very close. Andy was good advice.

Andy told him: "John, you did it

" You talked to your mother "This kind of stuff

He enumerated a list of things John said.." Yes I made it "

I thought it was good

When you're paranoid, believed people interested,

feels exploited

But the only friend that and he could call

To save his paranoia, his friends interested ,

it was Andy Warhol.

John could really count on Andy.

I have never seen Andy so close to someone.

And so is John.

Both really loved.

Jean tried to do a show with him.

He ​​thought and get some recognition

and acceptance.

An idea crossed my mind

when Jean-Michel was with me, in St. Moritz.

I said, "It would be nice

" that you collaborate with one or two artists "

He ​​found that it was a good idea

I suggested Warhol.. . He ​​said: "I'd love to."

Their friendship and relationship have not given

Mere attempts collaboration

but many works.

Listen speak Andy, it was nice.

The watch him, it was nice.

It is really funny.

He tells lots of jokes.

Once I saw them work. Andy got angry against Jean-Michel

who painted over his work.

It was funny to see.

Andy was more influenced by Jean-Michel the reverse

because Andy had given up drawing

and Jean-Michel gave the drawing.

Nobody drew as Andy. It was crazy.

A year of work.

It was an idea and you found one another?

How you to collaborate?

He ​​started most of the tables.

It was...

something very concrete or recognizable.

For example, a newspaper headline,

logo of a product. And I transformais.

Then I tried to do rework.

I wanted it to do at least two things.

He liked to make one thing

me and let everything else.

You do not have the right paint on his work?

No, painted on the work of the other.

Fortunately for the world,

they produced a number of dramatic works

including a very large canvas with logo Mobile

and I penguin.

This is a true masterpiece.

He thought that if necessary,

not only as a friend of Warhol,

but as an artist painting with Warhol,

It would be more recognized,

finally get the respect he wanted.

This was not what he expected.

Everyone attacked these tables.

Jean-Michel has approached Andy at a time

where Andy was not very popular.

The works of Andy sold poorly in the 80

It has not been a big success.

The reviews were bad.

Nothing is sold.

I do not know if Jean-Michel feel guilty for having disappointed Andy

or believed the press saying Andy used him.

They said that it was the dog Andy.

He suffered.

I remember he left the next day

Los Angeles or Hawaii.

There is no income paint with Andy.

Everyone said he was finished.

It was hard to understand.

Andy Warhol died

A week ago,

he was hospitalized for an operation / gallbladder

and his heart stopped beating

His condition was stable

No one expected his death

I was in shock,

I thought Andy would bury us all.

Jean-Michel was completely in shock.

We were all collapsed.

Andy had so much to us and our time .

There has never been able to overcome this ordeal .

I think that it was painful for him.

Thereafter he really collapsed.

Jean was in a tizzy. He ​​was crying hysterically.

Some friends told me: "You should talk to him."

When people tried to talk to him,

it shut very abruptly.

So I started

and I assure you he was suffering greatly.

Shortly after, he sank deeper into drug .

It was central in his life.

At first, he did not admit he took drugs.

He refused to talk about it.

Drugs?

I do not want to believe.

I put it up against the wall.

He said: "Not a word to my father."

I said, "It is not the question.

"Maybe I'll tell him

" or maybe not.

"This is your life."

I did not know it was so. It gave me a shock.

I was not so much in his life

over the past 18 months.

I knew he was taking a lot of drugs

and I went to see several times.

I wanted to talk to him about drugs, but it made him furious...

and violent this time,

if I told her to stop taking it.

The pressure of this artificial world

complicated his life.

"I am told that the drug kills me

" I am told that the drug kills me.

" I stopped and told me that my art is death."

I worked at Nell

And it arrived very late. It was a stampede.

I did not know who it was. He ​​came to my table.

He said arrogantly: "You want to see paintings

" I am a famous painter "

I replied:

". Famous people not need to say that they are "

I went, there was no power

or invoice was not paid It was death

From the bottom of the... .; workshop he released tables

From the bottom of the workshop, he released tables

He told me: "Which do you prefer?"

C . Double Elvis was I did not know it was Warhol

I said... " You should make more like that"

He laughed and said: "Do not you know who I am!"

I said no.

Over time, I realized that kept me for that.

Because I knew absolutely nothing him.

I went up to him the moral

because he wanted to cancel the show.

Because he wanted to cancel the show.

I told him: "No, you can do it."

It was a few days varnishing.

His trademark was incredible detail.

The expo was very bare, but powerful.

This was simplified.

The paintings were larger and ironic.

This was different.

But it's also reduced. This was typical of a mature artist.

As if his work ended at the age of 27 years.

His latest paintings are ambitious

in terms of size and theme.

In terms of size and theme.

These are masterpieces.

Often unintentionally,

the artist a prophecy about the future.

The tables were successful, but a little scary.

One of them was covered the inscription: "The man dies."

One of them was covered the inscription: "The man dies."

It was really scary.

He was not in shape.

There were patches on the face.

He was unwell.

He had no moral

because he thought that the press would attack.

He was very anxious to Article

Anthony Haden-Guest wrote about him.

He was upset by his relationship with his father.

The drug made him sick.

All fell on him at the same time.

At the time, he was surrounded by little.

Very little.

His gallery, Glenn,

Kevin and few people.

I'd say it was a little lonely.

We lunched at the Odeon. The father of Jean-Michel was there.

We lunched at the Odeon. The father of Jean-Michel was there.

He said: "My father is here."

He went to see him.

He was with his friends, his father was with his family.

He meant: "I invite my friends to lunch , I succeeded."

Jean-Michel returned with his tail between his legs.

His father was cold with him.

Those moments

the demoralized.

I saw it with other famous friends.

After a certain threshold of success

they return to those they have known before being famous.

He came to me on the 1st Street.

He rang at night.

At the time, I lived with my new boyfriend.

He asked who it was.

. "Jean-Michel I come Suzanne is?"

Between Jonathan refused it.

Between Jonathan refused it.

I said, "Let him come, he may be in trouble."

I have it open by the intercom, but it is never mounted.

This is my last contact with him.

He came to my apartment on the 1st Street .

He yelled out the window.

He landed with a diptych.

He wrote: "To Samo Samo from."

He wrote: "To Samo Samo from."

And like a bastard,

I sold these tables.

- In his lifetime? - His lifetime.

The last time I saw him, is December 31.

He was alone in a bar, very sad ,

but so touching.

He just smiled at me.

This image haunts me

This image haunts me

because it was Eve

and he was alone

so that was the artist's most famous his generation.

We booked a house in Maui.

The goal was mainly to wean.

At the last moment, he decided to go alone

because it was wrong.

So he went alone.

Returning to Los Angeles, it was clean.

Returning to Los Angeles, it was clean.

It took more drugs.

I went to look.

We bought Chinese food, we went to Mulholland.

We ate Chinese food in my car.

He was wrong.

For him, his career was over.

He knew that if retouched drug, he would die.

But he returned to New York.

But he returned to New York.

Summer is a strange season, it's downright hell in New York.

It's hot, we feel alone, the city is empty.

He left a message on my answering machine

saying he was back,

it was clean and fit

and he wanted to see me.

This is a classic.

They die of drugs when you least expect it.

Drugs and alcohol.

Drugs and alcohol.

It was an ordinary day. Kevin and he had to see Run-DMC.

He rejoiced.

He had a limo to go to the concert in style.

He had Kevin on the phone.

He slept, everything was normal.

I went out a few times as he rested in bed.

The last time I went up, he was not in bed.

He was dropped.

He was dropped.

We rushed

when she said he did not wake up.

When she opened the door, we went up .

It was on the ground unconscious.

I was at the beach and someone came to tell me...

his death.

Basquiat, 27, was born in Brooklyn

His brief career went from graffiti exhibitions in SoHo

His brief career went from graffiti exhibitions in SoHo

dangers of sudden success

"Jean-Michel overflowing ideas of genius."

He died at the age of 27,

leaving 1,000 paintings and 1,000 drawings .

It marked the art world and art history.

This is extraordinary.

This is extraordinary.

Nothing surprises me in terms of success.

The only thing that surprises me is that , even though I was

one of his biggest fans,

I did not understand

how his vision and talent were amazing.

His paintings were intended enigmatic.

They said: "Cope

" Our culture is complex. I give you clues "

Today, the future is 20 years have passed..

Today, the future is here. 20 years have passed.

We have more recoil.

Jean-Michel would be delighted

how things happen,

since he knew how to play the game

"This song prodigy, Sing softly

= = "Because the song is violent. Sing softly

"Whenever possible Let her escape

" Nobody loves the child prodigy.

"No one likes the child prodigy

" Can you love an eagle, Wild or tame ?

"Wild or tame, do you like a monster scary name

" Nobody loves the child prodigy.

"Deliver the

" and let his soul run wild "

Adaptation. Odile Manforti

Subtitles: CMC