Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn in 1960. He was a gifted child learning to read and write by age four. His childhood included times of tragedy and chaos, such as when he was hit by a car and when his mother was institutionalized for the remainder of her life. His challenging relationship with his father also contributed to his focus on art and, at times, living and creating on the streets of New York City. There in the 1980s, he helped define a new art movement called Neo-Expressionism. This movement is described as a collision of graffiti and hip-hop music. The impact of this collision can be felt in Basquiat’s frenetic works done in acrylic, oil sticks, and markers on building walls and found papers.

Basquiat put forth works centered on themes of loyalty, heroism and the street. He worked within contrasts of wealth and poverty, segregation and integration. His graffiti “tag” signature symbol was a crown, which seems fitting for the place he held in the eyes of his beholders and colleagues. In the beginning and in years later, his work has been acclaimed and included in collections and museums around the world. One of his pieces, Untitled, dated 1982, sold for $110,500,000 in 2017.

As many of you know, we lost this artist to a heroin overdose in 1988. He was 27. 

I invite us to spend some time with this piece and imagine this artist filled with passion, filling a paper with his heart and genius. He painted in this world but not of it. He scavenged his paper and frames like the one above. He proclaimed what he saw and felt in places such as Luna Park, LNAPRK, Italy. He confused and clarified in his own unique way beyond empire and industry of any kind.

What was Jean-Michel Basquiat showing us about

our culture,

our blind spots,

our debts that may come due?

Can we see this child of God pointing to all that is not love as a reminder of what is?

May it be so and amen.

In gratitude, faith and hope,