Ian Castello-Cortes. Desperately Seeking Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat is one of the few artists who have achieved mythic status. His work is instantly recognizable; like Picasso, Warhol or Frida Kahlo, his look is imprinted on our psyche. But how much do we really know Basquiat? Who was he, where did he come from, where did he hang out? Desperately Seeking Basquiat lets readers explore the most significant locations of his life. We learn that he wasn’t from the ghetto, but from the respectable, professional middle class Park Slope neighborhood in Brooklyn. He spent time in his mother’s native Puerto Rico as a child. He went to a private school for a few years. And then, yes, he ran away from home and lived with the junkies sleeping rough in Washington Square Park.