Basquiat

Rating:
Summary: Lots o' anecdotes
Review: Don't look to this work for any information about Basquiat as an artist. This is a book about fame. It took Ms. Hoban 7 years to write about an artist whose career wasn't even that long. This is a book about the eighties, fame, and excess. You will not learn much about Jean-Michel by reading this book. You will learn about the climate of the eighties art world and the ever-present parasites that the enormous speculation over great artists can create(Braghoomian for instance). The photographs of Jean-Michel are interesting, but because of the ownership of the artist's works, none are present to look at while reading this work. Buy a book of Basquiat's work if you are interested in the artist. If you are interested in the vacuum of New York 1980's culture, check this out at the library--it's not worth purchasing.

Rating:
Summary: IF YOU NEED ONE BOOK ABOUT BASQUIAT, THIS IS IT !
Review: I know that's a contradicition however one gets the feeling that the author was not a fan of Jean-Michele Basquait. His art or his work.

She seems to take an almost preverse pleasure in sharing the more "scandalous" aspects of his behavior.

There is much more time devoted to his alleged "drug abuse, whoremongering and venereal disease sharing" than his art work.

Overall, I learned some interesting information about his relationship with art dealers. The author seems particularly infatuated/intimidated with the recording artist/actress Madonna (who Basquait has a brief relationship with) and the art dealer Mary Boone.

But there is precious little about his family life, what motivated him or his connection to the Black community of which he was most assuredly. In fact, there seems to be a lack of respect for the African-American culture and the community as a whole.

I wanted to like this book, and it was very detailed,however much of it came from interviews, innuendos and third-persons accounts. Fufilling at some points, it often reads like tabloid journalism too. Some objectivity would have been nice, but maybe that's another book.

Surprisingly, I would recommend it to the Basquait fan, (for informational purposes) just check it out from the library or used stack.

Rating:
Summary: GREAT FICTION
Review: I will agree with one of the reviews already posted. This book gives a very good detailed account of the overdoneness of the 80's. Therein lies why this book is such an important study on such an important artist. He was molded by his times. Basquiat's art is flashy and full of message. Okay that 80's were full of flash, so maybe the message part comes better into the 90's. Either way it is book worth reading.

Samo, you died to soon. R.I.P.

Rating:
Summary: Basquiat by Phoebe Hoban
Review: It took me three years to finally had the courage to read this book. I was afraid it was another hype about Basquiat. I was there during the 70s when he was known as Samo. When he sold his painted sweat shirts in Patricia Fields, I was selling my silkscreen anckle socks in Capezio, @ just a minute down the block. I recall his half shaven head dancing in Reggae parties back in the days and I also remember talking to him one day in 1983, not having an idea of how famous he had gotten.

Reading Ms Hoban's book I finally had a realistic glance at this dude we had the impression to know. It was an eye opener. I understood not only the man, ( being a Puerto Rican artist myself) but the color artist in the midst of that up-coming yuppy world of "radical chic" ( as Samo used to write on walls) This book is a social revelation about the 80s. What we learn about Basquiat should be enough for us to draw conclusions about the Artist. A typical "minority" freak stepping out of the 70s, influenced by Bill Burrough's evil and deceptive aura and encouraged by irresponsible upper middle class people without ethics or love for human kind. The book is clear and truly authentic. Filled with good faith for future generations to know the truth.

Rating:
Summary: Basquiat: We hardly Knew Ye
Review: This book runs the gamut between gossip, stories of 80's excesses, and art history. The book is not so much a biography of Basquiat, rather a peek into the insipid world of the 1980's New York art scene. It has the usual "hangers-on" bottom-feeding on the talents of others, the "know nothing" art buyers driving prices up on marginal works, and the merciless art dealers who appear oddly enough to be the victims in this book. Basquiat does not deserve glorification, after all he was a drug-soaked addict and mooch, and this book provides none. It is a lively read that brings to the forefront the artists that drove the scene, the dealers that made them famous, and the host of actors that shaped the movement.

Rating:
Summary: Pretty Fictitious
Review: Unfortunately I agreed to be interviewed for this book and I would just like to warn readers that this is a total distortion of the life, spirit, work, and importance of J.M.Basquiat. If you want to read rumors, innuendo, and about MONEY and GOSSIP, read this.