Skip to main content
Back to Show
Independent Lens

Jean-Michel Basquait: Turning Street Energy Into High Art

Basquiat had a special talent for taking "street energies" and making them into high art. During his short career, Jean-Michel Basquiat was a wunderkind and a phenomenon. Discovered through his graffiti art in the late 1970s on the Lower East Side, he sold his first painting to Deborah Harry for $200, and later became best friends with Andy Warhol.