Jean-Michel Basquiat
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.Collection: Money
Since I was seventeen I thought I might be a star. I'd think about all my heroes, Charlie Parker, Jimi Hendrix... I had a romantic feeling about how these people became famous.Collection: Famous
I like kids' work more than work by real artists any day.Collection: Work
I don't think about art when I'm working. I try to think about life.Collection: Art
I don't listen to what art critics say. I don't know anybody who needs a critic to find out what art is.Collection: Art
I had very few friends. There was nobody I could trust. I left home when I was fifteen. I lived in Washington Square Park.Collection: Trust
Some days I can't get an idea, and I think, 'Man, I'm just washed up,' but it's just a mood.
I'm not a real person. I'm a legend.
I want to make paintings that look as if they were made by a child.
The more I paint the more I like everything.
I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist; or I'd draw a big ram's head, really messy. I'd never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spiderman.
The black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings. I realized that I didn't see many paintings with black people in them.
There are about 30 words around you all the time, like 'thread' or 'exit.'
I am not a black artist, I am an artist.
Believe it or not, I can actually draw.
If I'm away from painting for a week, I get bored.
I played a guitar with a file, and a synthesizer.
I wanted to be a star, not a gallery mascot.
For a while, I was drawing on good paper, but now I've gone back to the bad stuff. I put matte medium on it. If you put matte medium on it, it seals up, so it doesn't really matter.
I thought I was going to be a bum the rest of my life.
Medicine men live in caves.
Occasionally, when I get mad at a woman, I'll do some great, awful painting about her.
The country makes me more paranoid, you know? I think the crazy people out there are little crazier.
Charles Saatchi has never liked my work at all.
My favorite Twombly is 'Apollo and the Artist,' with the big 'Apollo' written across it.
I start a picture and I finish it.
I wanted to build up a name for myself.
I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was young.
I have done only two portraits: one of the artist Francesco Clemente and another of Andy Warhol.
I was a cute kid.
I have a painting where somebody's holding a chicken, and underneath the chicken is somebody's head.
My basic influence had probably been Peter Max.
I don't think about art when I'm working. I think about life.Collection: Art
I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.Collection: Want
Every single line means something.Collection: Mean
I start a picture and I finish it. I don't think about art while I work. I try to think about life.Collection: Life
If you wanna talk about influence, man, then you've got to realize that influence is not influence. It's simply someone's idea going through my new mind.Collection: Men
Most Young Kings Get Their Heads Cut Off.Collection: Kings
Fire will attract more attention than any other cry for help.Collection: Fire
I cross out words so you will see them moreCollection: Crosses
SAMO as an end to to mindwash religion, nowhere politics and bogus philosophy.Collection: Philosophy