Basquiat Quotes
Basquiat Quotes
A selection of poignant Basquiat quotes about making art, painting, being an artist and being a famous artist:
“I am not a black artist, I am an artist.”
“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 wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.”
“I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.”
“I think there’s a lot of people that are neglected in art.”
“I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.”
“I start a picture and I finish it. I don’t think about art while I work. I try to think about life.”
“Believe it or not, I can actually draw.”
“I like kids’ work more than work by real artists any day.”
“I don’t listen to what art critics say. I don’t know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.”
“Every single line means something.”
“I wanted to build up a name for myself.”
“I thought I was going to be a bum the rest of my life.”
“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.”
“The more I paint the more I like everything.”
“The black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings. I realised that I didn’t see many paintings with black people in them.”
“If I’m away from painting for a week, I get bored.”
“Occasionally, when I get mad at a woman, I’ll do some great, awful painting about her.”
“I have a painting where somebody’s holding a chicken, and underneath the chicken is somebody’s head.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat prints