Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Artwork Reveals Powerful Superhero Influences
His appreciation of comic book superheroes was threaded continuously throughout his remarkable body of artistic works
The late painter and graffiti writer Jean-Michel Basquiat didn’t have an uncanny talent to sketch out dynamic anatomy like Jack Kirby, Burne Hogarth, or the other comic art masters whose work would have made an impact on him as a young fan of comic books. In fact, according to the artist himself, art-making had always been a challenge.
In a 1983 interview for BFF Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, when art critic Henry Geldzahler asked Basquiat to name the kinds of things he drew as a kid, New York’s then darling of the international art world made a glum and endearing confession:
“I was a really lousy artist as a kid. Too abstract expressionist…really messy. I’d never win painting contests. I remember losing to a guy who did a perfect Spider-Man.”
Asked if he was ever satisfied with his work as a child, Basquiat replied, “No, not at all. I really wanted to be the best artist in the class, but my work had a really ugly edge to it.”
