PERFORMING BLACKNESS AT THE HEART OF WHITENESS: THE LIFE AND ART OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT Christopher F. Johnston A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY August 2008 Committee: Andrew Hershberger, Advisor Irina Stakhanova Graduate Faculty Representative Ellen Berry Khani Begum © 2008 Christopher F. Johnston All Rights Reserved iii ABSTRACT Andrew Hershberger, Advisor Born in Brooklyn, New York in 1960 to a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother, Jean-Michel Basquiat rose to prominence as a painter in the 1980s art world. When he died in 1988 at age twenty-seven from a drug overdose, he had achieved more fame and wealth than any black artist in history; he remains today the world’s most recognizable black painter. This study seeks to show how Basquiat’s racial and cultural background shaped his life and art. In its first three chapters, this study examines Basquiat’s experiences in New York City in the 1960s, 70s, and 80s in a variety of contexts including his neighborhoods, schools, the graffiti movement, avant-gardism, and the art world. This study finds that the artist’s blackness often made him racially hyper-visible and the target of racism and stereotyping. It also finds that of all the artistic traditions that Basquiat was exposed to and involved in, his experiences with performance art had the most enduring impact on him artistically. In its final two chapters, this study looks at Basquiat’s public persona and art. Chapter Four covers the way the artist walked, talked, dressed, wore his hair, acted in interviews, posed for photographs, and behaved in public in general. Chapter Five considers not just at his art’s aesthetic but also at the way he painted, talked about his art, and acted as an artist. This study finds that throughout his career from 1981 to 1988, Basquiat brought to his canvases a hasty, unfinished, and chaotic look while intentionally cementing an image of himself as rude, rebellious, and difficult. This paper argues that Basquiat’s wild behavior and equally wild-looking art represent a performance of “blackness.” The artist embodied in his paintings and public iv persona the stereotypical image of the young black male in order to comment on and locate the casual racism and racially naïve attitudes of his predominantly white liberal audiences. Although several popular and academic discourses explain Basquiat’s life and art in terms of the modernist construct of tortured genius, this study challenges this romanticized version by offering a more grounded and materialist interpretation. v To Mom and Dad vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I first would like to thank my advisor, Andrew Hershberger, for his commitment to this project. Dr. Hershberger supported my research from the beginning, and I am very grateful for his hard work and encouragement. I also would like to extend my gratitude to my committee members, Ellen Berry, Khani Begum, and Irina Stakhanova all of whom offered me valuable feedback. Many colleagues in the American Culture Studies program at Bowling Green State University were very generous to me throughout the dissertation process. They are, in no particular order, Donald McQuarie, Kim Coates, Gloria Pizana, Michael Lupro, and Neil Shepard. My brother, Michael, often helped me to track down sources, and I thank him for his contributions. I also want to thank my close friend, Kenneth Kaleta, for all of his wisdom and advice. I cannot begin to count the ways that my mother, Fran, and my father, Chris, have helped me in the past several years. Without their love and understanding, I would not be where I am today. Lastly, I would like to thank my wife Sheila for her love, support, and patience. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION. SCRATCHING THE SURFACE: THE RACIAL POLITICS OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT’S LIFE AND ART ............................................................... 1 CHAPTER I. TAKING THE STAGE: RACE AND PERFORMANCE IN THE EARLY LIFE OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT ................................................................................ 26 CHAPTER II. GOING DOWNTOWN: JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT AND THE RACIAL AND CULTURAL POLITICS OF NEW YORK’S AVANT-GARDE................................ 63 CHAPTER III. AT THE HEART OF WHITENESS: JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT AND THE ART WORLD ............................................................................................................ 97 CHAPTER IV. ACTING UP IN PUBLIC: RACIAL PERFORMANCE IN THE PUBLIC PERSONA OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT....................................................................... 136 CHAPTER V. THE ACT OF PAINTING: RACIAL PERFORMANCE IN THE ARTWORK OF JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT..................................................................... 178 EPILOGUE. FRAMING JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: THE ARTIST IN POPULAR MEMORY.............................................................................................................................. 231 BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 244 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure Page 1 Basquiat recreating one of his SAMO phrases for the film, New York Beat, a.k.a, Downtown 81 ............................................................................................................. 49 2 The Living Series: It Takes Awhile, 1980-1982 by Jenny Holzer.............................. 52 3 Untitled (I shop therefore I am), 1987 by Barbara Kruger........................................ 53 4 Charles the First, 1982 by Jean-Michel Basquiat ..................................................... 60 5 Basquiat with his band, Gray..................................................................................... 70 6 Basquiat holding Jack Kerouac’s The Subterraneans ............................................... 80 7 Basquiat being interviewed by Glenn O’Brien on TV Party in 1979........................ 88 8 Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1979....................................................................................... 89 9 Fred Brathwaite, a.k.a, Fab 5 Freddy and Basquiat in 1980...................................... 91 10 Basquiat and Suzanne Mallouck in 1981................................................................... 92 11 Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1982....................................................................................... 93 12 Jean-Michel Basquiat, 1984 by Andy Warhol .......................................................... 120 13 Basquiat and Kelle Inman.......................................................................................... 145 14 Basquiat and Madonna............................................................................................... 146 15 Basquiat Kissing Keith Haring .................................................................................. 148 16 Warhol and Basquiat Posing as Boxers ..................................................................... 150 17 Warhol and Basquiat Exhibition Poster..................................................................... 151 18 Warhol Delivering the Knockout Punch to Basquiat................................................. 152 19 Basquiat at a Dinner Party ......................................................................................... 154 20 Basquiat on the cover of The New York Times Magazine, February 10, 1985 ........ 157 ix 21 Basquiat Sitting on Art............................................................................................... 158 22 Basquiat Sitting on Art............................................................................................... 159 23 Basquiat Posing with Fake Gun to Head ................................................................... 161 24 Basquiat’s Curriculum Vitae ..................................................................................... 171 25 Basquiat Squatting on his Art .................................................................................... 189 26 Basquiat Lying on his Art.......................................................................................... 190 27 Untitled, 1981 by Jean-Michel Basquiat.................................................................... 203 28 Untitled, 1982 by Jean-Michel Basquiat.................................................................... 204 29 The Dingoes That Park Their Brains With Their Gum, 1988 by Jean-Michel Basquiat ............................................................................................................ 205 30 Max Roach, 1984 by Jean-Michel Basquiat .............................................................. 206 31 Pegasus, 1987 by Jean-Michel Basquiat ................................................................... 207 32 Untitled (Crown), 1983 by Jean-Michel Basquiat ..................................................... 208 33 Untitled, 1985 by Jean-Michel Basquiat.................................................................... 209 34 King Zulu, 1986 by Jean-Michel Basquiat................................................................. 210 35 The Elephant, 1986 by Jean-Michel Basquiat ........................................................... 211 36 Apollo and the Artist, 1975 by Cy Twombly............................................................. 213 37 Pisseur a Droite X, 1961 by Jean Dubuffet .............................................................. 214 38 Hommee Assis, 1971 by Pablo Picasso ....................................................................